This being Mother’s Day week, and me doing so much promotion around it, I thought it was only relevant to share something significant that has happened in my own life as a Mother & as a Daughter recently.

As the daughter of a full time carer, I think as a family we always resigned ourselves to the belief that there were just some things that we couldn’t do. My brother has severe cerebral palsy that was caused by the dreaded virus CMV when my mum was pregnant and growing up, there were just so many things that as a family we couldn’t do, places we couldn’t access, and experiences we could not enjoy together.

It was only when my parents and brother Ryan moved to the Sunshine Coast (from Sydney) last year, that I began to see how restricted a life we had all allowed ourselves to live.

Of course dear Ryannie’s disability had meant that we were restricted with reason, but I think that we had allowed ourselves to get a little comfortable within those parameters also.

Moving to the Coast I saw a great change in my parents perspective. They traded in a house in the Western Suburbs of Sydney for homes very near the beach, they started to venture out more and more, and slowly the invisible walls we had kind of drawn around us started to fade. I saw my parents AND Ryan, really living a different style of life, one it seems navigated by choice and decision, rather than by situation.

Despite this change, I still heard the words come from my mum’s mouth, “Oh I couldn’t do that”, or “I would never be as fit as you”.

And low and behold, as the universe always does, a little nugget in the form of the MAB 10 week challenge was thrown right in my lap. I knew I wanted to do it for a couple of years, inspired by many of previous challengers who I have photographed, and so I threw down the gauntlet to Granny, and to my utmost surprise, she took it on board.

She committed to making a change in her life for the better of our family, and stuck to it. She gave up her love affair with sugar treats, and traded in for gym sessions, challenges like I think that she never thought she could possibly do and continually pushed herself out of her comfort zone.

My mum, my absolute super hero, threw herself into this challenge, she not only showed up but she pushed herself to the limits.

The pinnacle of the challenge was a couple of weeks ago, when as a group we took on the challenge of climbing 6 mountains one day… Wildhorse, Beerburrum, Ngungun, Coroora, Ninderry & the finale at Coolum.

Right here I want to wind back the clock, 10 weeks ago, my mum had not even climbed one mountain, and on the day that we attempted this feat, she had only climbed one the week before.

Result… 4 full mountains, and half of the other two. I don’t even think she realised what she achieved as we walked down the steps of Coolum. We talked and I told her how inspiring it was for me to see mum achieve what she had, and she humbly thought it was nothing special…. WHAT!? Most of my 30 something friends would not even attempt it, let alone achieve what  my 61 year old legend of a mum did.

However the Sunshine Coast Daily saw it too – and did a feature on our climb that day, and really amplified my mum’s journey to that day.

This week the challenge wraps up and it all seems to have culminated in this week for me for a reason. I started the challenge so that as a working mum I could somehow get some balance back into my work heavy chaotic life. But what I got out of it, was much more, cause I got to see my mum – my absolute hero, achieve something she never would have thought possible.

For my little angel daughter and for me, as a daughter and a mum, seeing my mum, who could have played victim to her circumstances, empowered both physically, mentally and spiritually to surpass her own expectations of herself, to see that example that anything is possible at any age and in ant situation – that is the best Mother’s Day gift for me.

Mountain number one

Us doing the last leg of Coolum together

Victory!

Oh and now we are going to reward ourselves with a nice 3 generation photo shoot, just for us 🙂

SIDE NOTE: I would like to thank Melinda Bingley for creating a challenge that allowed a perfectionist high achiever like me, to exercise compassion towards myself  when (over the last couple of months) I could not achieve physically what I may have liked for varying reasons. I highly recommend this challenge if you are looking to enact real sustainable mindset & lifestyle changes 🙂