Changing the impossible

The impossible is defined as :

• not capable of occurring or being accomplished or dealt with ; such as an impossible dream
• something that is totally unlikely
• something that cannot be done
• a term used to describe someone’s behaviour.

“The impossible - what nobody can do until somebody does”

If someone had told you 200 years ago that people would be flying around the world, visiting families at the other side of the world in 1 day you would have answered them that that is simply impossible.

If we challenge our thoughts that global warming needs to be engaged with and that the concept is impossible my reply usually agrees with the quote from St Francis of Assisi :

Start by doing what is necessary, then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

When faced with a challenge, a need for change and an outcome in your mind that seems impossible, the very thought of it has to create a response in the universe. There is a response and a choice : it does become possible but only if you make the choice to face whatever impossible challenges are in its pathway. That in itself is a choice.

Yesterday I attended my graduation ceremony. What at 25 seemed like it had passed me by when I was a young woman, with a small child has become possible at 47 with 4 children and a disability. The dream at age 40 to support children in achieving their potential, in all walks of life, in challenging circumstances seemed impossible when a virus changed my health and working with children endangered my immune system. The vision did not go away. The possibility of achieving that ambition seemed however impossible. You can imagine the rolling eyes of my husband when I uttered : You know, I know that I am in bed unable to move, but I have a place waiting at college and I am going to finish that degree. Unlikely, impossible were only words that others uttered. I myself had moments of sheer frustration lying in bed wondering how on earth I would get there. However, yesterday, sitting at the front together with my other disabled friend; ( and having posed together as the ‘ disabled students’), I felt tears in my eyes. I know it was only possible because I refused to believe that it was impossible. At moments where in sheer frustration I felt I would never achieve that essay, that deadline, that placement……..I received help, I received encouragement and support. I could not have done this without the support of my family, friends, the college and the fantastic peers on the course. A place where disability was aired, trashed, discussed and accepted in the end. By opening a conversation about it, by listening to their fears about disability, and voicing mine about vulnerability and frustration, they actually strengthened the resolve within me to achieve the impossible by accepting that I still am the person I am, outwardly changed but the same person with the same dreams within.

If today you are faced with redundancy, a health diagnosis, a family situation, a financial crisis and you think you are facing the impossible…….take a step back, assess your values and beliefs about the situation, check your dream and take one step forward. If you need help with that….ask someone who knows you well.

The same could be said about the challenge of global warming, of the difficulties we face with our climate on a worldwide scale; it seems impossible and my reply will be just the same as Pitbull Dog……just watch me!