Time to run

We often wonder why it is that our thinking shapes itself in a way that to many others appears foreign and even ourselves ponder why it is that concepts fill our thoughts first in fragments that have no apparent connection. 

For me growing up as the youngest of 7 I had the influence from my brothers and sisters all who expected one thing of me as quickly as possible “I had to be able to keep up and go the distance” no matter what the challenge was. For me that meant getting involved in a lot of sport training, my brothers and sisters all played sport, somewhere in a family photo album there is a photo of me playing tennis with my sister who is 13 years older than me, the tennis racquet is actually bigger than I was at the time. By the time I was in my teens I had only 2 pair of shoes that I would willingly wear- a pair of cross-country distance running cleats and a pair of basketball boots. 

The bus ride home from school each afternoon only had 2 stops. The first stop by the main road was 4 miles from where I lived; the same stop was 10 miles from my home if I took the back road. At school I would change into a running outfit (dependant on the weather) on the bus I would do the required homework- my friend would take charge of my school bag. Then dependant on what I would need to do when I got home I would get off the bus and take either the 4-mile or 10-mile run. -I have to admit I much preferred the 10-mile run because it gave me much more time to focus on my pace set small challenges, and simply learn the required mind-set to run the distance on my own take on unexpected challenges (in rural Australia unexpected challenges come in the form of snakes, cattle on the road, and a twisted ankle long before there were mobile phones) each challenge had a resolution or a resolution needed to be found in order for me to be as safe as possible.

When on the basketball court (I was the baseline defender), the same thinking was required, where are the challenges, what is it that I need to do in order for the team to win. I could read the game play of the other team by transferring the logic of what was playing out in front of me. 

Every sport I had learned to play with my siblings had entered my thought process and given me ways to see what I was looking at not just at what I was seeing. 

By now you maybe wondering what any of this has to do with workers compensation and how is it that my mind oft times steps to the side of what each challenge is to be able to breakdown each component of the challenge before setting in place a myriad of options (many of the options make no sense) always there are a check list of questions. “Is this my challenge” always fits into the list of questions.

Even at 4yrs old I knew I was never going to beat my sister at tennis, I also know that my sister was never going to let me win just because I was her baby sister-it’s not that she didn’t like me, it was just that she was part of my learning to make a stand then hold my ground and when need be go the distance and if needed go the extra mile. Each of my siblings was modelling for me how to live my life, what to expect, when to stop, when to leave and more important to bring all the information available regardless of how fragmented into place.

And so, it is that when doing the research that has formed itself into Craig’s Table. I first had to stop and step aside from my own workers compensation claim- my own claim had given me a concept that was unique to me, my reactions, my addictions, my fears, my understanding, my everything though in many ways mimicked others experience, the whole time the whole claim was just mine – the learnings can be transferred but only to a small extent. 

What I needed was a vantage point that allowed me silence, distance and a copy of the rules for this game. 

What I found when I gained access to the “rules (legislation)” was interesting. As with all such rules, I discovered that the rules were what built the framework that workers compensation is formed within. When I finally found the section of the “rules” that referred to what I was seeking then I understood what it was looking for, it was then just a matter of finding programs that I could transition into the workers compensation process all the while being mindful to never step outside of or away from the “rules”, then by vicarious modelling Craig’s Table came into being. 

By changing the way that the participants of Craig’s Table inter-act within their own workers compensation experience by modelling everything that I believed in, others came to see that they too can have a vastly different outcome to what had been presented to them. Helping the participants engage at every level and support the emotional journey that each of them are going on, modelling constantly what more can be achieved opens the realm of all possibilities in a manner that is understandable.

This is where playing tennis with my sister; 10-mile runs and basketball come into importance. My sister taught me that she was never going to just allow me to win, she expected and at times even demanded that I rise to the challenge in front of me. She never once pulled a shot she reminded me that I had stepped onto the tennis court and it was me to play the game and constantly improve -I never won as much as a set against my sister, nor did I ever give in or give up. The 10-mile runs taught me to run against the traffic so I could always see what was coming at me and never run too close to the edge of the road in order to leave the snakes as much space as possible and should there be a snake crossing the road in front of me, it was a good idea to stop running and let the snake pass on its way; on the basketball court my role was to watch the game talk to the coach about the plays I was seeing form and how to place my team mates to break the plays and set up our own plays.

Craig’s Table takes all of this knowledge, I did step onto the court, I did expect push back, I did learn the “plays” and I did learn how to position the Craig’s Table placements so that they can “win” against the odds I knew I had taken on. The participants change their own minds when they come to understand that they are not alone and that it is within themselves to make the changes required in order to be the best that they can be.

I set out on this journey from being an injured worker to advocate in order to understand all that had happened to me, it soon became evident that in learning about what had taken place that this was not ever going to be a short 4-mile or even a little longer 10-mile training run. It also became evident that I may never know the number of people who in essence were running with me nor the number of opponents who would challenge my right to make a stand and hold my ground.

If you have children, get them into playing sport, help them to learn game even sport watched on television, play board games with them, never let them win just because they are children encourage them to fall and fail and make mistakes. Train them that getting up is easier than staying down, pull them push them drag them forward if that is what is required. I started my own journey as a cross country distance runner because it was a sport that none of my siblings had taken on- even though it has been many years since I pulled on a pair of running cleats I am still a distance runner; the only difference now is I don’t run on my own nor do I run for myself. 

Yours in service
Rosemary

www.craigstable.net.au
rosemary@craigstable.net.au
SKYPE Rosemary2412