Last weekend, I met the bump of my soon-to-arrive grandson.
It was very exciting as I hadn’t seen the surrogate who was carrying him for my son and his husband since before she got pregnant.
Things felt even more poignant because it’s around the time of my son’s birthday, and we were discussing his arrival into the world.
I had gone into hospital for an ante-natal appointment which I thought was one month before he was due to arrive, and they picked up that I had a condition called preeclampsia which meant they needed to induce him immediately as it was threatening both our lives.
I was only 16 at the time, and it had been my intention throughout the pregnancy to give him up for adoption so he could have “a better life”.
Very selfishly, the day before that appointment, I decided to risk giving him a totally shit life and not give him away.
And so, in the space of three days I had gone from a young girl who was going to give up a baby and follow a normal teenage life, to a responsible adult in charge of a small human.
Was it scary?
Very much so.
Did I doubt I could do it?
At times.
Did I do it anyway?
Hell, yeah!
I think my love of a good challenge was spawned from that experience, and it snowballed into a lifelong love of taking on new challenges, not least the challenge of working for myself.
I don’t think there is a business owner alive who doesn’t have this need to prove something to themselves, and secretly enjoys a bit of trouble to fight with to keep them feeling like Muhummad Ali.
Speaking of whom, I saw I quote from the great man today:
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
If you’re flexing your muscles against a challenge today and someone’s saying it can’t be done, or you shouldn’t do it, remember many minds are small.