“And I know it too well, I will be making...

...in good time” 

                                                                                

                                                                                    (Gretta Ray 2023)

And the prompt for this post?

 

I have spent a fair amount of recent time working on the organization of this year’s “Walk in the Park”- a South Manchester and Stockport branch of Headway, fundraiser.

 

As with its equivalent event last year, this is a project on which I take a lead.

 

In the barest outline, it is a sponsored walk in favor of my Headway branch, in and around Bramhall Park.  Participation is encouraged among our service users, volunteers, and their respective families and friends.

 

The aims of the exercise are twofold:

 

·      First to raise some much-needed funds

 

But that’s not all...

·      For participants to have fun! As part of this, it is proposed to finish the event with a picnic.

And... 

 

Surprise, surprise! 

 

If any reader wishes to dip into their pockets, here is the giving link...

https://headwaystockport.org.uk/sponsored-walk-in-the-park-for-headway-2026/

 

 

Of course, I have posted about Headway before and have discussed some benefits that it provides for its service users, in general

This time though, I am going to personalise things and look at how a couple of related matters arising from my own membership contribute to my own emotional wellbeing.

 

You might have noticed the two initially italicized words – “project” and “lead”.

 

Considering the first one; organization of the walk is a project.

 

Nowadays, my involvement in particular projects is a significant part of my new life and they are important to me.

 

They give me a sense of purpose .... a goal to be achieved. 

Successful completion of a project can (to use a regular expression of mine!) be a source of pleasure and pride.

 

I now have a lot more time on my hands and feel that I ought to maximize ordered activity (rather than living an unduly chaotic life).

 

I now find that such a tidying away of things into boxes, suits me the best, and projects are a good example of this.

 

By way of a few examples of my projects over the last few years...

 

·      Writing this blog!

 

·      I’ve already given you an example – the upcoming sponsored walk.

 

·      I also guess that my volunteer role in our branch of Headway (Lead Fundraiser) can be described as a wider ongoing project.

 

·      The same can also be said of my other voluntary work.

 

·      Of course, my writing and preparation for speaking opportunities are each one, a project.

 

·      Music writing/recording objectives

 

·      Specific fitness goals

 

And there are plenty more...

 

One important thing for treating these activities as projects, is that they are (so far as possible) measurable – so that I can monitor progress and identify satisfactory completion.

 

In partial achievement of this, I will now often (but not often enough!) document medium/long-term goals together with target completion dates.

 

 But my involvement with projects has been far from perfect. Many of them have been third party instigated.

 

While this is a useful and admired care function, some more self-starting motivation wouldn’t go amiss! 

 

And now, leadership...

 

Prior the head bump, this was something that I rather relished.

 

My immediate pre-accident job title was “lead counsel – client and matter engagement”. 

 

Before then, I was a university lecturer, who undertook a range of course and subject leadership roles.

 

And this kind of leadership function extended beyond my professional life...

 

I’m quite sure that there are plenty of other, personal examples...

 

As you might have gathered, I wasn’t too good at remaining as a mere participant in things, and post-accident, rather struggled with a feeling that, I would be forced to relinquish any leadership roles.

 

But on reflection...

 

This is not entirely the case!

 

For a start, I am leading the proposed sponsored walk. Not just as a project leader, but quite literally so, on the day!

 

I am also of course, my Headway branch’s “Lead Fundraiser”

 

I could also be described as a “leader” of other projects.

 

That said, it isn’t quite so simple...

 

In many cases – and particularly those that involve the participation of others – I am no longer up to undertaking a solitary leadership role.

Just to give you a couple of Headway related examples:

 

·      Prior to my appointment as Lead Fundraiser, I served (very briefly indeed) as my branch “Member Representative”.

 

Such a role should, of course involve significant inter-personal interaction – and I am no longer good at this!

 

Without beating about the bush, I was useless in this capacity and am much better suited to my current position.

 

·      Even so, fundraising is not a solitary activity. One example of how we (informally) deal with this is for me to undertake “backroom work” in seeking out fundraising opportunities. In the meanwhile, a much-valued colleague undertakes the stuff involving outsiders - making and dealing with the consequences of grant applications etc.  

 

·      Regarding the walk, while I have dealt with many (most) of its arrangements myself, it has not been a single-handed operation. For example, if you have clicked on the earlier fundraising link (please, please), you ought to be aware that I have had nothing whatsoever to do with its creation or operation.

And there are other examples of situations where I must grow to accept that I can undertake a prominent role but must learn to accept that its effective exercise now requires me to operate as part of a team.