i’m dying – 136 – 10 day streak

this week for me has been emotional.

i’m going to die.

i don’t know when, or from what, but the thought crossed my mind, and started me thinking.

not so much about death, though i just wanna give you a spoiler alert, you’re going too, hopefully not for a while, but currently, science says ‘we’re all gonners’ it’s just the timeline that is unknown.

and that’s the bit that is frustrating.

i would love to know when i was gonna check out, it would give me a chance to do some uber cool shizzle.

if i knew i was only around until 7th february 2027, then i would book a trip to japan to make sure i saw the cherry blossoms before i left, and probably a few more fun things.

but we don’t know the date, so we have to pace ourselves, and as a young man it never crossed my mind to think about my mortality, and it was only this morning that i’ve thought about it now really, dark huh?.

mainly because i got to thinking about impact.

impact.

a small word, but all encapsulating.

ironic the power it has.

i got to thinking about the impact we all have the opportunity to make while we’re here.

and i got into flow.

last week i had a parkinsons hospital appointment.

and my parkinsons is getting worse.

derrr, no surprises there jeffrey!

it ain’t gonna get better.

not until michael j finds a cure, and bejesus the boy is trying.

over two billion raised to fund research.

now that is impact.

my immediate reaction was emotional.

but why?

i know the rules.

i have it.

it’s gonna get worse.

i’ll die………..with it.

with it, not from it.

and the timeline is the only real variable.

so, let’s focus on the opportunity i have.

i have the opportunity to make change, and create.

i have the opportunity to impact the world for good.

and so do we all.

not that i’m melancholy, in any way, and i’m not belittling parkinsons, it is huge and it sucks, but i think it is, for me, turbo boosting my drive to do more, and to create more impact, in a positive way.

parkies appointment concluded, emotions managed, we move on.

monday, tan and i went to see the movie hamnet, starring jessie buckley, who I’m predicting picks up a shiny gold oscar for her performance.

directed by the amazingly talented chloé zhao, it is a very dark tale, extremely powerful, and inspired by shakespeare’s hamlet, which made me again think about impact.

the impact of writing books, and storytelling.

these things, and art, stand the test of time.

and i need to do more.

more storytelling and more creating.

i am trying, i am on day 10 of a streak.

a writing streak.

i have written for a minimum of 15 minutes for 10 days on the bounce, it seems i just needed to gamify writing my book, to get it done, who’d have guessed?

then came wednesday.

another emotional one.

blog readers may remember i had an idea, a long while ago, to get a load of amazing artists to donate pieces of work to bigmoose, and then we’ll have this huge auction at christies, which gets great interest from the art world, and becomes an annual event, raising millions every year.

i dream a lot.

ooooh i just thought of a title.

art4good.

well it has been a slow burn.

i have done a couple of things towards it, but not with real focus.

however, i recently dm’d alison lapper mbe.

alison is a british artist, born without arms and shortened legs, graduating with a first class honours degree in fine art in 1994, painting with her mouth, and famously being the subject of marc quinn’s sculpture ‘alison lapper pregnant’ which proudly sat on top of the fourth plinth in trafalgar square from 2005 to 2007, and a large replica featured in the 2012 london paralympics opening ceremony.

i think it is beautiful.

and shines a light, very brightly on disability.

i also think it’s extremely evocative, it stimulates conversation, and those conversations have impact, which i love.

alison has an extremely powerful story, and wednesday night we watched a doco about her called ‘in my own words’ on bbc iplayer, and it was a very emotional and inspirational watch, and her resilience and strength to carry on, made it memorable.

so, to continue my story, i have a zoom call booked with her for next wednesday to present my idea, and see if i can get her to join the bigmoose squad, wish me luck.

and finally yesterday was very emotional in our bigmoose offices.

two of our girls delivered presentations which were powerful and represented our charity beautifully.

the lovely louise did an online call with the co-op which had feedback from them that read.

“It was lovely catching up today and thank you again for the presentation. The content was really powerful, felt spot‑on for Co‑op, and you delivered it brilliantly. Your warmth and genuine passion for Big Moose really came through and was inspiring. I really hope there’s a chance for Co‑op and Big Moose to do something together – it feels like it would be a great fit.”

well done lou.

and one of our newest members of the team, emily, presented to confused.com one of the top comparison sites in the uk, with a personalised impact report, showing where their money they had fundraised had been spent, and when we talked about the 12 year old little boy, and his journey to and through therapy with a happy ending, the words hung in the air, and there was an energy in the room that was electric.

well done em.

to finish my blog, and to finish our week at bigmoose, just a quick snapshot of yesterday.

we were having our daily huddle, and one member of the team referenced that they had feedback that we’d saved another life, 133 total lives saved, amazing.

then another one of the girls said “and i had one too” 134, “and me” came another voice 135, and incredibly yet another, 136.

4 lives saved in 1 day, our biggest impact in one day ever.

and i smiled.

i ain’t dying yet.

i’ve got so much more to do.

now let’s look at flights to japan.

blue skies,

jeff

c