By Sandy Bauer – Country to Canberra Teen Blogger
Ever had someone say ‘that’s impossible’ or ‘you won’t cope with that change’?
I have. A few times actually, yet I’ve proved those particular people wrong every time.
I’ve always had goals and ideas, some of which didn’t work out or were impossible, but I’ve never been one to let people stop me from having a go.
When I first commenced work, I started in a workplace in which I grew up in. Every part of that idea wasn’t easy for a few reasons;
- The fact that my grandad used to be the manager so I knew how things ‘once were’
- The fact that I started half way through the year
- I also had to adjust to the idea of how things are ‘now’ done (by somebody who isn’t my Grandfather).
One of the biggest things I’ve ever learnt in life and especially when it comes to a job, is to leave what you were taught previously at the door and be entirely open to new ideas and management. That wasn’t easy, but I’ve learnt to bite my tongue and accept change.
I learnt to do this through having ‘resilience’ which is a major skill to have in anything you a’re a part of; work and life in general.
Resilience is having the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties of all kinds.
Just about every living thing around you has resilience of some type, which brings me to how I learnt about resilience… poddies.
For those of you who don’t know what poddies are;– they’re calves which no longer have mothers due to unfortunate circumstances. Most calves are kept with their mothers for half of the year until they are big and strong enough to face what the world throws at them – on their own. However, some aren’t lucky enough to have the support of their mothers.
You’re probably thinking I’m insane right now and where am I going with this?
Well, poddies are some of the strongest animals out, they have a way of being able to bounce back after what gets thrown at them.
One of the many things that they endure are the large population of wild dogs. Being a small calf without a mum to protect you – you soon become an easy victim for a meal or even just a toy to play with. Unfortunately most just get played with – dogs do a lot of injury and most don’t make it. However, the ones that do survive, if they are stronger than the sick days they have while they fight infection (with our help), they have the resilience to ‘bounce back’ and soon enough they can go back to living a healthy and fit life.
I have helped raise had over 40 poddy calves.
Whilst having to care for these poddies I have spent hours on end, loving and encouraging them to try and take their first mouthful of milk in the hope they get that ‘spark’ back to life when they finally realise that someone cares and they no longer have to give up.
I have brought back to life, numerous poddies – ones with sunken eyes and cold tongues. It is only for the fact that they have stuck it out, they have been resilient, that they have been able to bounce back.
In the case of poddy calves, ‘it is not the strongest of them that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most able to deal with change.’
Which brings me back to your life.
If you have goals, dreams or generally something you are passionate about don’t ever let ‘that’s impossible’ or ‘you won’t cope with that change’ stop you from at least trying! It’s important that whatever you want to achieve – you’re stubborn about your goals but entirely flexible about your methods.
If a poddy is resilient enough to lose its mother four months before it is to be weaned and is still be able to pick itself up after everything the world throws at it, YOU can be resilient enough to achieve your goals and dreams, even if it’s baby steps.
After all – life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we just get stronger and more resilient.