Monday's Uplifting Unf*ckery

Because if any day needs a lighthearted talking to, it's a Monday

Evening team!

What has Monday thrown at you today? Anything good? I find that when things are ‘thrown’ at you, they usually aren’t great. Some things that spring to mind that go with the word thrown are:

• up

• a Hot Potato

• off my feet

• in the towel

• out

• myself on his mercy

• in a vat of boiling oil

even for the doggos…

None of those are ace, are they. I’m going to change that though by encouraging you (throwing down the gauntlet?) to focus on a positive from today. Let me, ahem, throw some light on what I mean. (ps feel free to add any of your own ‘thrown’ phrases’).

Two very cool things happened to me today amongst the usual mele of Monday-ness.

Firstly I got confirmation that my CIC (Community Interest Company) registration application had been accepted and is now incorporated!!

Whut? I am the DIRECTOR OF A CIC!

I mean, this equates to absolutely nothing until I’ve actually done something with it of course, but with the amazing team we’ve grown around the idea we’re launching, it won’t be long before we have. Our pilot event is being pencilled in for October, and there is a lot to plan before then.

Ooof but I am absolutely stoked. I can’t tell you the name of it just yet as I’m checking I’ve got the domain name squared away, but then I’m going to be so excited to tell you all about it. I know you’re going to be inspired by it just as I am, and hopefully my journey with it might encourage you to take some leaps with a dream you have, because you bloody well can. No one has the experiences, knowledge and unique perspective you do, so if there’s something you’d like to bring into fruition then I’m saying go for it, and I’ll keep you abreast of how I do anything in case it’s useful (feel free to ask anything too!).

But that’s not going to make up my main uplifting thing to share with you this Monday though. My main unf*ckery is about why you should never feel like you can’t make new pals, because potential new connections are genuinely all around you.

You never know where new friendships will come from

In September last year I was in Chamonix, supporting a Coppafeel charity trek on routes around Mont Blanc. On the way home I took the usual long train from London to Cornwall, and was totally knackered. As we approached Truro, I made my way along the passage and to the luggage rack, where a smart, attractive older woman was taking her bag out ahead of me. We both stood in the vestibule, gently swaying as the train bumped around over the tracks, waiting to get close to the city. For someone perpetually late, I always get up out of my seat for Truro too early, which is strange as I’ve been arriving at that station for most of my life so I should have gauged it by now. Anyway, it was late and I was cranky. In the dusky space I looked at the other lady and smiled politely, remarking on something or other. She replied in kind and I realised she was American, and we then struck up a little conversation about where we were coming from and what we’d both been doing. I said Mont Blanc, and she said that she’d recently done a sponsored cycle on the routes of Mont Blanc to raise money for Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s Foundation, but it had all been done on her indoor cycling machine because she herself had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at 52 (and was now 63). How hugely brilliant to do such a challenge, I remarked, and she shared her knowledge of the foundation and all the great things it was doing, then asking me about Coppafeel treks, and how I was involved.

It was a very lovely conversation and I was struck with how much I liked this woman and was really enjoying talking with her; there was an immediate energy and upbeat connection between us. The exchange only lasted mere minutes though, as we soon pulled into Truro station. I offered to take her bag down the steps, she warmly declined, and we continued talking briefly on the platform. I had mentioned (in my chatting about Mont Blanc trails) that I liked hiking, and had written a book about my AT hike. She asked my name, smiled and repeated it twice as if to seal it in her memory. I asked hers, and then we bid each other goodbye.

As I heaved my bags into my van and drove out of the station, I felt that warm buzz that you sometimes get when you know you’ve met someone that you really ‘vibe’ with, someone with a wide and interesting life of which I’d only caught a tiny snippet, but felt richer for. I had gathered that her parents were Korean, that she and her husband used to live in the US and then London, and that they had recently moved to Cornwall - but that was all I knew and all I supposed I’d ever know. Ahh well, I thought, I was just glad of such a lovely, uplifting exchange at the end of a long and tiring journey.

Then, a few days later, an email pinged into my gailmuller.com inbox, entitled:

This terrific woman had remembered my name, had found my website and had then had the absolute brilliance to just….get in touch! Her short email was fun, bright and brilliant, ending in thoughts that I myself had also had:

And so it was, after months of both of us being either overseas, working or otherwise indisposed, that we met today for the first time since that lovely train conversation. It was for a very lovely afternoon tea at her gorgeous home just north of Truro, and we spent almost two hours chatting about writing, art, hope, careers, resilience and more. She lent me a brilliant-looking book about physics (see below) and we’re defo getting together again soon. What a DELIGHT!

I think the moral of the story here is to be unafraid of striking up conversation with people (bearing safety in mind obvs), but even more than that it’s to actually reach out. It was so astounding to me that she sent me that email, but I’m so utterly delighted she did. Making respectful contact is such a simple and positive thing to do, and one can always decline of course.

As I drove home afterwards I felt so cheered and energised at the lovely encounter, and that it had resulted in such a nice experience. It’s a super thing to be reminded that new friendships and connections can happen anywhere if we let them, and if we look up to engage with the world around us, pop our phones back into our pockets for a spell, and open our minds to engaging with people face to face. It really does feel good.

Please can you tell me a Monday positive that you’ve had, even if it’s small? Perhaps you had a really good cup of coffee earlier, or someone let you cut in a queue of traffic? There’ll be something, I promise. Tell me below so it makes you write it out and acknowledge it: it’ll feel good to write and for me to read!

Thanks for reading this evening. The investment learnings, mouse-man antics and more will come very soon as I reanimate my writing cadence post-flu! Appreciate you sticking with the flow. Brace for wild camping ranting on Weds…. I think. Lol.

Much love, Gail xx