I don't know where you get it from!

I was out for an afternoon walk with my mum recently and I was telling her about my plans for the year.

Those plans, as you may have read in my newsletter, involve climbing Mount Snowdon in July and then doing my second Tough Mudder later on in the year. We spent the next 20 minutes or so discussing snowdon, and what we thought it'd be like. Then we moved on to Tough Mudder. I got really excited thinking / talking about what this years event had in store.

At this point in the conversation, my mum said "I don't know where you get it from, me and your father wouldn't dream of doing something like that."

This got me thinking. She was right. Out of everyone in my family, I'm the only one who purposely goes out to do stupid sh*t. I started to think about my WHY?

- I like doing stupid sh*t, it makes me feel alive
- I like to find and smash my own physical and mental limits
- One day, my auto immune disease will win, and i'll not be able to physically do stupid sh*t

As i'm writing this blog, I have an injection warming up on the table so I can inject a medication that will help slow the destruction going on in my body. This medication will never be good enough to completely cure me. it'll never completely stop the pain and it will probably do more harm than good, in the long run, if I believe the recent medical reports. But right now, it's all i've got and I'm bloody thankful for it. Not only does my treatment/care cost the NHS 4 figure sums on a monthly basis, it's painful to inject and it's a pain in he butt on a logistics level. That little vile of clear, cold fluid allows me live a little more comfortably, reduces pain and gives me hope that my mum will be able to carry on saying "I don't know where you get it from" for a few more years.

99% of the time, this whole situation doesn't bother me at all. I'm not one to worry about things i cannot change. But occasionally, it scares the crap out of me. That's ok too, because it's just another mental challenge that I get to conquer.

Do something "stupid" this year. Something that challenges you both physically and mentally. It'll make you or break you. Either way you'll know if to push for harder limits or be able to smash your limits next time.

Let me know what you decide to do.

Much love
Dee
Miss Make It Happen

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Brad Camp - Become A Better Speaker

On Tuesday 26th January I travelled from London to Walsall (40 Minutes north of Birmingham) to attend Brad Burton's 'Be A Better Speaker' day.

I hate, actually hate public speaking and the night before to say I lost sleep was an understatement.

The day started with open networking and breakfast. A great opportunity to get to know your fellow campers and grab a bite to eat.

We were then taken to a room and it was explained what was going to happen during the day.

At this point i'm torn between telling you exactly what happens during the day and letting you find out for yourself.

What did I learn about me as a speaker?
- The more I talk, the less anxious I become
- I need to practice more
- I know where I want to go as a speaker
- I have ideas, oh so many ideas
- What my assets are

I could go on all day, but If you want to know what type of speaker you are, what your plan should be for becoming the bets you can and what you'll need in the process I thoroughly recommend hitting the link below and finding the next #BradCamp

BRADCAMP

Why did I attend BradCamp? Although I love helping people by telling my story and sharing my experiences, I have two fears in life - Heights and Public Speaking. I believe in what I have to say and I am, after some internal digging, proud to be able to speak to people about what i've had go right and wrong with my life, I just hate the thought of being centre of attention in a "professional" capacity. BradCamp has definitely changed that for me, so watch this space.....

Much Love
Dee
Miss Make It Happen

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Commercial Sheep & Valentines Day

My last proper relationship was for 6 years.  During that time we didn't really buy in to all the hearts and flowers of Valentines Day.  We'd usually get each other a card but thats about it. It wasn't a big deal and we didn't waste money because society and the commercial giants demand it.

I've been single, 4 years next month. (Wow time really does fly when you're having fun!) and I've realised that as a single person I spend more time, energy and money on celebrating Valentines Day. how weird is that?

A day that was designed and aimed at couples has created a sub culture for the singletons.  When I was in a relationship I wouldn't have been thinking about ValDay but this year, it's taken 3 of us, several conversations to plan a whole day dedicated to being single.

Seriously, it all feels a little bit weird if you ask me. I'm off to spend the day wandering around London, getting involved with Chinese New Year parade, other random London related stuff and then off to our favourite Chinese for a romantic, or not so much, dinner for 3.

Now, I like spending time with my friends, I just kind of wish we'd do it another day. One of the other 360 odd days this year that doesn't have a "couples" related theme.

Until next time....

Much love,

Miss Make It Happen.

You're not always right.

On Tuesday 26th January I had an accident. Well, technically I  had two related accidents.

Firstly, A car door slammed shut on my head in a wind related accident. Then after a 4 hour journey home, I got in to bed and knocked myself out for 14 hours by hitting my head on a wall.

For the next few days I just got on with the headache. A few friends asked me to go to the hospital as I wasn't getting better and they were worried due to me being epileptic. I knew best, I was fine... I don't need the hospital.

7 days in, I was still not myself and I cannot shift the headache. I ended up in hospital being passed between nurses and doctors for 7 hours. 5 hours in and we're pretty sure it's a bad case of concussion until two doctors decide to to swap notes or whatever doctors do.

"I've just spoken to the the doctor you've just seen and we need to get you up to have a CT scan ASAP."

*confused look from me* at this stage I thought I was on my way home.

"For the possible bleed on your brain".

oh.

Within 30 minutes I had my head in a CT scanner and was willing my brain to be ok. It already goes through enough and neither of us need this.

Luckily, my scans came back clear for any bleeding and I was sent home with the diagnosis of bad concussion that I can expect to be reminded of for a while yet.

The point i'm trying to make is - I was wrong not listening to my friends. It's quite scary to think that if I had had a bleed on the brain, I could have been left a lot worse off than a concussion.

When people are offering you advice, think to yourself WHY they are. Sometimes, just sometimes they could be doing it for the right reason, because they care and who knows...it could save your life

On that happy note
Until Next Time
Much Love
Miss Make It Happen

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I've just lost my right arm

At about 10:30am on Thursday 28th January 2016 - It felt like my right arm had been ripped from its socket.

I was updating apps on my Macbook Air and I wasn't concentrating. I clicked 'upgrade' on the new El Captain system upgrade. Then I agreed to the T&Cs and then I realised what i'd just done.

*Deep Breath*

Firstly, no, I hadn't backed up. The upgrade was an accident.

Secondly, I thought it'll be ok, the update is happening fast and there don't seem to be any problems.

Thirdly, Crap.

At 80% complete, the laptop (which is under a year old) frozen for about an hour before completely dying on me. There was no lights, no sounds, no nothing. I called Apple and we pushed buttons for 20 minutes. I then went to an Apple 3rd Party Supplier and they asked me to turn it on so they could run diagnostics - It took every ounce of my being not to scream "If i could turn it on, I wouldn't Fing be here". They offered to send it off and have a look but I decided to take it home and speak to App again.

Thanksfully, 99.9% of my work is on the cloud and apart from one client system I could access everything from my iPad. but I basically lost a days work because I was running around and on the phone all day.

This whole day got me thinking - I don't have a back up plan for digital disasters. Thankfully at 8:45pm there was a beep from my coffee table. The computer had magically restored itself and I could finally catch up properly on some work.

Do you have a digital back up? What would happen to your business if your computer just died?
Food for thought.

Much Love
Miss Make It Happen

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