It's easy to be Silent...
Posted by Darren
‘MAYBE’ IS THE NEW ‘YES’
In the short time I’ve unexpectedly been branded as a ‘charity fund raiser nut’ [some believe a dirty word], it’s been a huge eye opener. My email inbox although generally swelling with kind words of support, one reply has provoked me to write my thoughts here.
| "It would be better for the environment and yourself if you write a cheque and save all the extra expense of doing a difficult and time consuming event." - ML |
Anyone that personally knows me can contest quite loudly that I’m stubborn, set in my ways, quite compact socially and blissfully unaware of anything outside of my daily life. Yet here I am trying to develop an event that is going to be nothing but hard graft to achieve, will possibly leave me with more stitches and even more demanding to secure much needed funds from businesses to make it a successes. So maybe the above comment is justified, write a cheque, save some diesel and get my weekends back in bed...job done!
But something deep inside of me wants to push myself an deliver much, much more.
VIVA LA REVOLUCION!
So what makes a normal person start a revolution from within? I’ve no idea to be entirely honest, ask someone that knows. All I know is one day I woke up and if you like, had a shining epiphany moment. I looked it up – “An epiphany is the sudden awareness or understanding of a larger essence or meaning of something”. So here I am, finally understanding that I’m not the only one on the planet. It’s quite enlightening really – unexpectedly finding out that the sun doesn’t revolve solely around me is quite overwhelming.
So what makes a normal person start a revolution from within? What makes us suddenly realise that there are bigger things in this world than that of the personal money issues you've been trying to fix through budgeting tips from lovemoney. I’ve no idea to be entirely honest, ask someone that knows. All I know is one day I woke up and if you like, had a shining epiphany moment. I looked it up – “An epiphany is the sudden awareness or understanding of a larger essence or meaning of something”. So here I am, finally understanding that I’m not the only one on the planet. It’s quite enlightening really – unexpectedly finding out that the sun doesn’t revolve solely around me is quite overwhelming.
I’ve been asked “WHY?” a few hundred times now already and to be brutally honest I’m still not quite sure what the correct PC/PR answer is. Oddly my genuine reply is, “that this feels right”. Although I still have trouble convincing my tired legs that getting up at 6am on a weekend and running across soaked moorland in the fog is a fantastic idea, this still feels very right.
THICK SKIN
Having never actually raised a penny for charity before this challenge, ‘sorry no’ is not a word I’ve been accustomed to hearing everyday. I have to admit you can send 100 emails and a 200 letters and only get a handful of replies, apparently this is quite normal?
Rhino like thick skin and a kind "no problem, all the best and thank you for your time" response has become the new by-line of my daily life. But every person that says ‘no’ just makes me more determined to succeed.
I don’t give Bryn my team mate as much credit as he deserves, yes, this was my idea, my motivation, my goal, but Bryn is a highly dedicated individual and brings as much to this event as I do. He’s also an experienced fundraiser, I mean anyone that can run 26 miles dressed as Mr. Tickle can be on my team any day. That’s either true dedication for you or possibly a need to start looking for those loose screws he’s lost running along the way.
So for all those people who silently say ‘no to a donation’ please be prepared to haggle, we’ll not settle for anything less than a maybe!
