Olympic Athlete. Speaker. Coach. Woman of Faith.
What is resilience? I always call it ‘the ability to bounce back from obstacles’. Then, during COVID, I realised resilience isn’t always about the bounce back. Sometimes it is about the climb or the crawl. The MLK quote - "If you can't fly then run; if you can't run, walk; if you can't walk, crawl;… Continue reading How to develop ‘true resilience’ from the perspective of a world-class athlete
What brings you most joy? 'What brings you most joy?' is a question I wrote and reflected on recently as I soaked tired and sore legs in a much-needed Epsom salt bath. Why that question? Well, I'm keen to get the most out of my life! I want to live life and live it abundantly… Continue reading Travel Diaries: 4 Places to Visit in Munich (Munchen), Germany
This week, I attended a Toastmasters club for the second time in a row. It’s a speaking club where you practice impromptu and rehearsed speeches! Here’s the format - at the beginning of the meeting, following introductions, we dive straight into ‘table topics’ - an opportunity to practise impromptu public speaking based on an unknown… Continue reading Mastering Public Speaking & Social Anxiety
I'm going to let you in on a little secret... But before that, let me remind you of the first two parts in this series - In Part 1 of my 2022 season debrief, I remind myself and you guys of the victories I’ve achieved in this second wind of my athletics’ career, culminating in… Continue reading 2022 Part 3 (Finale): A little secret…
I've been in the room for a fair few memorable team captain speeches. But, perhaps for the pure simplicity of it, Jodie Williams' 2021 European Indoor Champs speech is the stickiest. Two words: Back yourself. It sticks all the more because of what I know (who really knows what someone has or is going through?)… Continue reading 2022 Part 2: Three Questions to ask for a better shot next time!
This second wind of my athletics career was supposed to be smooth sailing, but 2022 has proven that expected truth to be a complete fallacy. In 2018 (my first comeback year post-achilles tendon rupture and mini retirement) I jumped 6.60m+ to qualify by distance for the European Championships in Berlin that year. Unfortunately, at the… Continue reading 2022 Part 1: Disappointment and Shame
I first competed at the Commonwealth Games (albeit the youth version) in 2008. Fourteen years later, I've been selected to represent Team England at my first (real) Commonwealth Games (the Commonwealth Youth Games doesn't count at the Senior performance level). If I'm honest, this one has taken longer to achieve than my Olympic dream. In… Continue reading 14 Years Later… I’m Going to The Commonwealth Games!
“People with PTSD have their floodgates wide open. Lacking a filter, they are on constant sensory overload. In order to cope, they try to shut themselves down and develop tunnel vision and hyper-focus. If they can’t shut down naturally, they may enlist drugs or alcohol to block out the world. The tragedy is that the… Continue reading Acceptance – ‘Achieving’ Post-Traumatic Growth
“But there have been people who have said yes [to life and the responsibility within it] despite all difficulties. And when the inmates in the Buchenwald concentration camp sang in their song, ‘We still want to say yes to life’, they did not only sing about it, but also achieved it many times - they… Continue reading YES To Life, In Spite of Everything!
My school visit to Weydon School, Surrey will undoubtedly be my last one for a while. It's a shame to write that, but until we stem the spread of this COVID19 coronavirus, there's a new normal. Anyway, it was a fun day of mental and physical exertion. We started with a workshop discussing the talent… Continue reading Weydon School Visit with British Champion on Excellence, Resilience & Jumping!