Lezley Stewart

I find it inspiring in these last few days to read and hear the stories of some of those who taking part in the Invictus Game in Netherlands. This is fifth year the game have been able to meet since the inauguration. And the opportunity for injured service men and women to compete at highest level against their peers.

Now that we entered March there may be a little brightness in our week at the moment, but the news of these days bring in darkness of its own. Seeing images of a war unfolding in Ukraine, at one and same time confront us with a challenge. Feeling intimately connected with the horror we observed, and yet being able to watch at safe distance. Our inter-connected world with all its technology allows us to stream stark scenes and see the pictures of reality of war and its consequences, leaving us feeling both disoriented and disempowered.

Only a few days into this new year, I find myself looking both backwards and forwards. I took time over Hogmanay to reflect all the photos I taken on my phone during 2021, it tells the story of my year, and in many ways, it wasn’t a bad year for me personally. Yes, there was lack of personal contact, with family and friends at times, but generally the year offered more opportunities previous year had. Now I looking forward to what will unfold in 2022. I do hope to see more people in general, working from home for nearly 2 years does make you start to feel you are an avatar on screen, rather than a human being at times. But in general I have little to complain about.

I often look for the good news stories in what I hear read each day, so I’ve been following the attempted rescue of caver who’ve been trapped in broken beacon after a bad fallen on Saturday, keeping hope of good ending. It was great to hear on Monday night, that the injured man has finally being brought to the surface taken to the hospital, and despite significant injuries, and an ordeal lasting for 50 hours that things are all set in positive.

Did you heard about the Hamster on Wheel? No, not a joke but a story on the news this week about a hamster call Mr.Cock, who successfully trading in crypto currency, even beating human investors with their traditional tactics. Now I’d be the first to confess I don’t understand much about crypto currency, and that maybe while I was amused by the story, this hamster has a specially created trading office attached to his cage, whereby the time when his ran his wheels it triggers buying and selling at random in crypto currency, while he had some loss along the way, as of a few days ago, his investment has seen 20% return, which is better than many professional traders in finance. There’s a lot that’s random in the story, that two men in Germany might find time and inspiration to setup such a creation during the lockdown boredom, that crypto currency has seen variety highs and lows in the past year or so, and there’s a lot of online followers of Mr.Cock the hamster, who cannot wait to see what he does next.

I was fascinated to read this week a couple who successfully walked 40 miles in a straight line, in the path of Scotland, without cross any paved roads. The line on ordinary survey map without path. And you just have to navigate through whatever is in front of you to keep a straight line. You probably think of straight line as being something easy to navigate, this is anything but. It meant climbing up, or down steep rock faces, wadding through water, moorland, high heather. And it's something they were pleased to achieve, but not something they'll do it again. The lady said the simplest idea of walking in a straight line isn't always the simplest thing to do.

There's nothing easy following a sport you really enjoy, it can be emotional roller coaster, be you Scottish, or English, or Germany, might made those emotion even more pronounced when it comes to football. But no matter your country or team, the experience is a shared one, and that's half the fun. Watching Andy Murray play at Wimbledon on Monday was certainly a test for me. Although I was watching from the comfort of my armchair, I find it hard not to shout encouragement at the screen at times just left the room. It was great to see Andy went through that first round, but certainly wasn't a breeze when Andy kept everyone on edge of their seats. I was once lucky enough to attend Wimbledon in person, it was 2016, and with ticket to semi-finals and saw Andy went on to win the Wimbledon championship.

In the year when I’m looking forward to postponed olympics of 2020 taken place, I love to read stories of great courage, perseverance, endurance of people achieve their goals, I never going to be someone who runs a marathon, or wins an olympic medal, so I’m quite glad to be amazed by achievement of other people. This week, one Scottish woman has smashed the record for running 212 miles, Southern Upland Way by more than 17 hours. Anna Rutherford managed to run whole route in just 62 hours 34 minutes, and only slept for a total of 90 minutes during that challenge. Wow, if that’s not enough, she’s a lawyer, a mother of two, and completed the challenge just 9 months after given birth. I’m not sure if I can begin to imaging what those 62.5 hours would feel like, mentally and physically, running in daylight and darkness, and ascending over 9000 metres on route, which is higher than mountain Everest. I’m in the midst, there’re real moments of doubt to live through, some significant pain and discomfort too. Such challenges will never win easy. There’s humility in Anna saying that, if she can do this, anyone can. I really don’t think I could. But I can certainly be inspired by what she has achieved, and apply that to smaller goals in my own life.

With the release of vaccine, it’s natural to start planning what we used to call normality. Less commuting, fewer social events, or not having to tax the kids around, most of our lives have been changed, by the freedom from choice, and expectations we placed upon ourselves. As we glimpse return to normal times, it is important to consider how we might shape that new normality.

Archeologist in Egypt uncovered remains of ancient mummies who have golden tongues, the mummies themselves not being preserved well, but their tongues of gold have survived intact, it’s thought dead were given these tongues, so they could speak in after life. I find discoveries like this fascinating, but also made me think how much more important it could be in life, rather than death to have a golden tongue. Of course, not a tongue actually made of gold metal, but rather a tongue that speaks well and kindly, as leave behind a legacy that worth something.