“History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heart-breaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats”    B.C. Forbes

Titling my Blog “OtherPeoplesMondays” was a challenge in that there had to be a framework for interested people to appreciate where the title came from – notwithstanding the fact that it has been in my head for decades. The objective of the blog itself will play out the hand in one way or another.

Mondays are the days that are associated with things happening, the perception being that these are normally challenging and often upsetting – not discounting good things also happen on Mondays. Why, when chatting in the lift early on a Monday morning someone is bound to say only 5 days to Friday? How many people look forward to Monday?

The challenge is to absorb the blows and derive something positive from it. Some of us seem to have more Mondays in our lives than others and I definitely am one of them.

• I am one of the “Other” people. You read about me when my father-in-law was lost in the Kalahari Desert after a plane he was in made an emergency landing and survived for 10 days without food and water making history and turning all his family grey.
• I am the one reading the article about the accidental drowning from an overturned fishing boat of a young 37 year old man in Sodwana Bay whom I was married to.
• I am the one who relocated the whole family from the country to the city so I could earn a living.
• I am the one who with a standard 8 education, no money of any account, was determined to earn a double salary ensuring that my children would have the same standard of living had their father lived.
• I am the one with an inherited disorder which against all odds recorded passed on to all four children. (Percentages never work in my favour).
• I am the one who sat for 12 hours in a waiting room in another city, not my home, waiting for one child after another coming out of surgery when they were 18, 17, and 15.
• I am the one who was told one child’s life was in question and two months later had the same issue with another child. Thankfully things were alright however the fright” took some time to go away. There is nothing worse than the possible loss of a child.

For me all of these were “defining moments”, these are the things that build character, the choices are simple – you either survive,  learn and benefit, or you become helpless and a drain on everyone. These are the only two alternatives. For me there was no question and these ”challenges” were the vehicle that spearheaded me into the real world with the strength and courage to believe in myself and my ability to achieve my goals and keep my family intact. For me this quote says a lot.

“You gain strength; experience and confidence by every experience where you really stop to look at fear in the face … You must do the thing you cannot do” Eleanor Roosevelt