Let's meet Tim... again!

Re-meet the runners #15

Welcome to the 15th edition of the Re-meet the R4R Runners. This week we get to meet an R4R legend. Not only is this man the epitome of resilience, he is an integral part of our community. A friendly face to old and new runners, a helping hand regardless of the request, and… the designer of our brand new website!

He’s also provided some cracking answers to this weeks rag, with plenty of thought behind each response. So, without further ado, let’s meet the great man!

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How have you been?

On the whole, over the past six months, I have just been getting better and better! I have struggled with my daily health for most of my adult life, especially since my last Still’s relapse in 2019. It has been almost a five year process, however my body has finally started to settle down, and I am so EXCITED for this year.

They say ‘when you’re healthy you look forward to a thousand things, when you’re sick just one’. It has been a long time since I’ve looked forward to more than just getting better — it feels great!

Knocked off any running events recently?

I’ve been running parkrun almost every week since the end of December and I’m just amazed at the body's ability to recover and heal. It wasn’t that long ago that a short walk would land me in bed. Now, I’m starting the weekend with a 5km run... and eyeing off the City2Surf later this year!

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What’s been your highlight in the past two years?

Despite the challenges of the past two years there has been so much to be grateful for! 

• Celebrating 5 years of marriage with Jess

• Making incredible friends through Running for Resilience that have helped change my life for the better,

• Being able to volunteer as an ambassador for Rare Voices Australia, 

• Working on my passion project Running Rare, 

• Starting the Running Rare Health Fund with Hands Across Canberra, 

• Having access to medical care that has prevented disability, and

• Working at a great studio and having stable employment

But honestly, the last six months in particular have been incredible. With my energy returning, Jess and I have just been enjoying life — we don’t know how long this remission will last but we’re making the most of it!

Gee whiz… your positivity is rubbing off on me! Your original answer to "what does resilience mean to you?" was a doozy!

I think I am learning more about what resilience means every day. But, as of now, I think resilience has three main defining characteristics that create a reinforcing cycle... 

#1 — Resilience is the ability to firmly ground yourself in the realities of your circumstance. It means you don't shy away or unnecessarily amplify the challenge you're facing. Or, in other words, it means you don’t make the challenge larger than it needs to be or lure yourself into believing you don’t have to proactively deal with the challenge in your life. 

#2 — Once you’ve grounded yourself in the reality of the circumstance, resilience acknowledges the temporal nature of (most) challenges. Resilience reminds you that you’re in the tough winter season, but that spring is coming. So start planting your bulbs in preparation even when it doesn’t feel good in the moment or you're not seeing an immediate change. 

#3 —Resilience drives you to self-reflection and adaptation. It makes you ask the question ‘am I where I need to be’ and then motivates you to move from where you are to where you need to be. This then reengages point #1 and the cycle begins again. 

I believe that resilience doesn’t occur in a vacuum and that community is critical to building the resilience of the individual. The people around us can help us interpret our experience and provide insight that may not be easily accessible from our vantage point. For me, resilience is less of a character trait, and more of a willingness to submit ourselves to the process of problem-solving. As a result, I believe that resilience can be learned and improved upon.

Do you still think your definition is the same? Would you change it at all?

My definition of resilience hasn’t really changed since the last time, except for one crucial element that I overlooked, hope! Without hope things can feel, or maybe are, pointless. Where there is hope there is resilience! If you take hope out of a situation, resilience evaporates quickly. Contrastingly, if you can inject hope into a situation people can endure and overcome extraordinary things. If I think of the struggles in my life that I’m having to overcome I don’t think I would have endured any of if it wasn’t for the beacon that hope provides in the fog of difficulty. Resilience and hope cannot be decoupled from one another.

Is there something you've learnt in the past two years that has helped you comprehend your previous struggles more that might shed light for others going through something? Have you endured/overcome something in the last two years?

Battling against the symptoms of Still’s Disease, the side-effects of medication, persistent fatigue, depression and getting sick constantly as a result of being immune-compromised from treatment just wore me down. I found myself in a place where I desperately needed a break from it all, but there was no escaping the situation — I was trapped in my body. I felt like I was drowning. It didn’t matter how many strokes I took towards the surface, I felt like I just couldn’t catch a breath. In some ways, that is the cruelty of drowning, or struggling in general. You can drown 10 metres or 10mm from the surface. The depth of the water is inconsequential.

Now I feel like I am finally above water, and in hindsight I can see that all the effort of the past five years was worth it. At the time a lot of what I was doing to help recover, calm and heal my body felt painful and in vain - I was still underwater and not seeing significant improvements. But in reality, I was more like a free-diver returning to the surface who must contend with both the need for air and decompression. The need for air tells you to surface as quickly as possible, get out of there and don’t look back! However, the need to decompress reminds us that we need to deal with the pressure around us. We can’t escape it, or will it away, it has to be dealt with. I had to appreciate the enormous pressure my body had been under and that the decompression process would take time and could not be rushed. I needed to keep showing up, reaching out for help and be willing to receive help, even if I wasn’t seeing the results immediately. Now, in this season of remission, it is my opportunity to try and do the same for others. 

I think that’s an amazing analogy.

You've been a massive part of the R4R community so far. How do you think we can achieve our goal of making Canberra suicide-free?

In reference to the design concept proposed by Steve Jobs for the new Pixar campus, Brad Bird, the director of the Incredibles and Ratatouille, is quoted as saying "The atrium initially might seem like a waste of space…But Steve realized that when people run into each other, when they make eye contact, things happen.” In this sentiment, I believe we need to keep showing up for each other and creating spaces for our community to run into each other and make eye contact. We need to let people know that we see them, and that they’re not alone. If we can do this, I believe our community will continue to heal and we can achieve our goal of making Canberra suicide-free. The Running for Resilience community has already had a profound impact on my life, and I believe I’m not the only one who can testify to this. We’re onto something, and I believe we’re just getting started!

Thanks, Timmy!

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As it gets darker

Keep an eye out for some new volunteer vests and an opportunity to get some head torches!

We’re looking to make more of an effort to welcome new runners and we believe that dedicating people to that role with high-vis-vests will do the trick.

And because the path around the lake isn’t as lit as it should be, we’re looking to land our community a deal with some headtorch offers (to be confirmed and not promised!).

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ANZAC DAY

As has become tradition on ANZAC Day, Running for Resilience will be just after the Dawn Service. For more information, please see The Dock’s run-sheet below.

Anzac Day