Challenging Yourself to Grow

There is something quite interesting that happens when you stop doing something that has occupied a huge part of your life. Suddenly, you have time. Lots of it.

After more than a decade of training, racing, travelling and competing at the highest level of Para cycling, I retired from international racing. For years, my calendar had been structured around training sessions, recovery, competitions, travel and the next goal.

Then suddenly, there was no next race.

At first, I thought, *This is going to be fantastic. I’ll have so much time! And it is fantastic. But I also quickly realised something about myself. I don't actually like having nothing to work towards.

While some of my friends are looking forward to retirement and having fewer commitments, I find myself wondering, What am I going to learn next?  What can I challenge myself with?  Where can I grow? I think that question is incredibly important.

Not just when we're young. At every stage of life.

Since retiring from racing, I have deliberately looked for new challenges. I took a course on how to produce a television show. Now I'm doing a course on the business of speaking.

Are these things I knew how to do before?  Absolutely not. And that's exactly why I chose them.  There is something incredibly energising about being a beginner again.

When you are good at something, there is a certain comfort that comes with knowing what you're doing. You understand the rules. You know what is expected. You have experience. But learning something completely new puts you back into that slightly uncomfortable space where you don't know all the answers.

And I love that.

Because that's where growth happens.  We don't stop growing because we get older. Somewhere along the way, society seems to have created an invisible timeline for our lives.

Go to school.

Get a job.

Build a career.

Raise a family.

Retire.

Slow down.

But who decided that retirement means retiring from growth?

I'm technically classified as a "senior" now, but I don't feel like I have reached some imaginary finish line where curiosity, ambition and new experiences are no longer relevant. In fact, I think they are more important than ever.

I love getting out and speaking to groups. I love sharing what I've learnt through sport, adversity and life. But I also love the fact that every time I stand in front of an audience, I am still learning.

About people.

About communication.

About business.

About myself.

And perhaps most importantly, I'm still discovering what I'm capable of. Challenge doesn't always have to mean climbing a mountain. Challenging yourself doesn't necessarily mean taking on something enormous.

It could be learning a language.

Taking a class.

Joining a club.

Learning to play an instrument.

Starting a business.

Travelling somewhere you've never been.

Speaking in front of a group.

Reading something outside your usual interests.

Trying a new sport.

Or simply saying yes to something that makes you think, I've never done that before. The challenge isn't necessarily about achievement. It's about expansion.

Expanding what you know.

Expanding your confidence.

Expanding your experiences.

Expanding your view of what might still be possible.

I've spent much of my life chasing big goals. Paralympic medals. World Championships. Things that required enormous commitment and discipline. But I don't think we ever outgrow the need for a goal. The goal might simply look different.

Your last third can still be your growth years. If we are fortunate enough to live into our 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond, we could potentially have decades ahead of us. Why would we decide that those years should be about simply watching life happen?

I'm not suggesting we should all suddenly become obsessed with achievement. Quite the opposite. I'm suggesting that we stay curious. Stay interested. Stay willing to be a beginner. Stay open to the possibility that there are still things we haven't discovered about ourselves.

Because perhaps the greatest danger isn't getting older. Perhaps it's becoming so comfortable that we stop asking ourselves:

What's next?

I don't know exactly what my next challenge will be. And that's okay. I'm enjoying the process of finding out. Because I have learnt something through all those years of racing: growth doesn't happen when everything is comfortable. It happens when we stretch ourselves, take a chance and discover that we are capable of more than we thought.

So whether you're 25, 45, 65 or 85, I have one question for you:

What are you going to challenge yourself to learn, experience or become next?

Because I don't believe we're ever too old to grow. And I certainly don't intend to stop now.

“It's Never Too Late” to discover what's possible.