Purpose Changes the Challenge
One of the benefits that I personally derive from speaking on stage, is the time and reason to pause and reflect on the circumstances and events that have given me the very reason and cause to speak from stage.
I share photos, and depending on the event, I often share a video or two. During those moments when a video is playing for the 2-3 minutes, I get to stand and watch and listen to the words. Of course, they are images I have seen many times, words I have heard many times, but it is not uncommon for the emotion in those to move me like I am hearing and seeing them for the first time.
Presenting yesterday to a full room at the Adelaide Convention Centre, it was one of those occasions when I was 100% dialled into the video and the words that I was hearing. They weren’t my words, but those from the team that joined me on the Run to Remember. It was their reflection of the time on the road and what we shared over that month. Watching and listening, I wasn’t thinking of what was going to happen next, I wasn’t thinking about the flight home, I was present in the moment.
I was listening to the thoughts of those on the video about the run, and considered how the message I had just shared around resilience is a bit different to the conventional “be mentally tough” narrative. The message that I hope to share is that resilience is not something we possess; it is something we build through purpose, perspective, connection and choice.
I thought more about this on the flight home and how “purpose” is perhaps the strongest theme through the various aspects of my work. Purpose, I decided, is what makes adversity bearable.
People stay focused by remembering their "why” and connecting into something bigger than themselves.
The Run to Remember wasn’t about running 1400kms; it was about the children of Hands
Creating Hands Across the Water wasn’t about building homes; it was about creating a life of choice and replacing dependence with dignity
Likewise, the work after the tsunami wasn't about recovering bodies; it was about giving families answers.
Carrying the bodies of dead children, opening the body bag and moving the hair out of their eyes was never without challenge. Never without challenge. But the reason I attached to what I was doing, the purpose, kept me moving forward.
For those that choose to step into the challenge through circumstance or choice, you will build resilience one decision at a time. It’s the simple and ordinary decisions made repeatedly — to get up tomorrow, to have the next conversation, to take the next step, and sometimes, it's just about continuing to show up.
People become resilient not because life becomes easier, but because purpose becomes clearer.
The privilege of speaking allows me to share these reflections with others. Every audience is different, but my hope is always the same—to leave people with a perspective they can carry into whatever comes next.
If these resonate with what you would like your audience to experience, I invite you to download my speaker kit below or reach out and check my availability for your next event.