The past 18 months have been really hard for all of us, some harder than others. I think that we all have struggled at some point; some have lost loved ones, businesses have closed, people have lost their jobs, lockdowns and we are living amidst the chaos of changing times around the world. A lot of us have become fearful about the changing world and how we may have to live in the future.

Today’s blog is going to be a bit different. I wanted to share part of my new book “The Force Within” with you. Below are links to order your copy: Australia/New Zealand : click here. Rest of the World: click here. I would like to share the Introduction: This book is how I transitioned from what I thought would be a life log career as a police officer to living the life as an elite Paralympic Athlete.

Are you being true to who you really are or are you being someone that you think you should be to appease others?After choosing a career path and following that for 14 years I decided it wasn’t what I wanted in life. It was hard for my father to accept that I didn’t want to make policing a life long career, as he and his father had. But he supported and respected my decision. Yes I missed working with the lifelong friends that I had gained but they are still in my life, well at least the important and authentic ones are.

Well it’s been just over a week since I got home to my actual home. I left on the 27th of June to head to Brisbane for a training camp prior to the Tokyo Paralympic Games and because of the crash and quarantine I didn’t get home until the 8th of October. That is 3 months and 11 days or 103 days or 148,320 hours where it was all about me.

Where do we get our confidence from? Numerous times I have been asked how I can be so confident in myself. But really we all struggle with confidence at times. A lot of people have been taught that confidence comes from our achievements and the accolades we receive from others. But in truth our confidence must come from within.

Yesterday as I began my 3rd day of quarantine in a Melbourne hotel, I was looking through Instagram, trying to make time pass by and I came upon a quote from Ralph Marston “See your actions as being driven by your choices, not controlled by your needs.” Later in the day something else came up about the same thing and it made me realise that the universe was sending me some kind of message.

It has been a while since I have written a blog and that is for a number of reasons. First as most of you would know I was at the Tokyo Paralympic Games competing in the road cycling and I felt like I needed to concentrate on just what I was doing in the moment. Second, on September 2nd during my road race I was unfortunately involved in a crash only about 6 minutes into the race.

I remember as a little girl I loved getting presents, I mean who doesn’t?! Even today if we are honest with ourselves, we love getting a beautifully wrapped gift to open. Everyone opens presents different, some may just rip it open off excited to see what is under the colourful paper and bows, but some just methodically take the parcel apart trying not to rip the paper so that it can be used again. As a child I think I was a definite paper ripper! But as I got older, I did like taking my time, relishing what was in the parcel.

Have you ever been so caught up in doing something that time just passes you by? Have you focused so much on what you are doing that you seem to miss out on other things in life? Well the life of an elite athlete can be exactly that.

How many times have we all set goals only to set our sights on the outcome instead of the process? I know that I have done it in the past even during a race by aiming for a specific time or speed that I want to finish in (the end product), instead of looking at the process during the race. Most often than not I fail at reaching that certain time or speed.

It’s amazing how dreams can become goals and goals can become reality if you put the hard work in and believe in yourself! 1968 – 7 years old I watched my first Olympics.

Lately, I have noticed how noisy the world is, it never seems to stop! The other day I was trying to think of the last time I just sat in silence and to be honest I don’t remember. To sit with nothingness, no phone, no radio, no music, no television, no computer, no sound at all.