These Boots Were Made For Thinking
Route maps for women’s careers
There’s nothing quite like publicly committing to do something challenging before you fully understand what you’ve signed yourself up for! Once the initial adrenalin wears off, there is a feeling of ‘oh no – what I have got myself into now?!’.
My public challenge? A 630 mile walk over 46 consecutive days on the South West Coast Path, to raise fundsfor the charity End Youth Homelessness. I have NEVER done anything like this before and if I stop too long to think about it, I feel a sense of panic. Of course, I have started to prepare – training in the gym and routinely taking extra long walks at the weekend have been part of my life over the last 10 months. I have come to love the feeling of shouldering on a light back pack and tightening the laces of my boots, because I know I’m about to spend hours and hours outside breathing fresh air, looking at the horizon and putting one foot in front of another. Yes, these boots were not just made for walking – they were made for thinking.
In fact, I have been thinking on my feet about how the planning and training for the charity walk have mirrored my wider career in academia.
Route Maps
There are many paths to a single destination and the terrain will vary. I know this is literally the case on the South West Coast Path, for all manner of reasons – such as path erosion, poor weather - there may need to be an alternative way to get to where you’re going. I have found too in my academic life that one can find additional paths to reach a goal. I am currently Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Business and Law at De Montfort University, I am also co-chair of our staff network DMU Women, an accredited coach, a Trustee and board member and, for this year too, I’m President of my professional body the Chartered Institute of Housing. I skip between these paths to provide me with a feeling of fulfilment – I don’t expect just one path to be able to take me to my destination, but I do map out where I want to be going to make sure I’m on the right path at the right time. My ‘Why’ (thank you Simon Sinek) is to make people feel at home – and I find that a multiplicity of routes enables me to do that – not just a single path.
Getting Back Up (aka s**t happens)
Over the past 10 months of training I have injured a foot which resulted in a diagnosis of arthritis, broken two bones in the wrist of my dominant hand and contracted Covid 19. Each one made my inner chimp (with thanks to Steve Peters) say – ‘see, this isn’t for you, you can’t do this’. It’s my 50th year on planet earth and I’m still trying to live alongside my chimp – some days it is harder than others. The same nagging voice undermines my confidence when I’m about to give a speech or presentation, when I get a revise and resubmit on a journal article or when I get a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ email from a grant funder after months and months of work. Getting back up and putting one foot in front of another is hard, but it is the only way.
Embracing Vulnerability – Courage
‘What would Brené Brown say?’ is a bit of a mantra of mine at the moment (Brené and the chimp have epic fights in my internal monologue!). The closer the start of my walk is, the more I feel vulnerable – I really don’t know if I can walk 630 miles. This could be a spectacular public failure. But unless I put one foot in front of the other and try, I just won’t know. I felt vulnerability too when I established an online series of menopause cafés at my university and we started talking openly about issues that had previously been hidden away. Opening up and sharing those moments provide opportunity for meaningful conversations and deeper professional connection among women and allies that just would not have been possible if we hadn’t been ‘brave’ in our vulnerability.
The analogy of a journey is used a lot - perhaps too much. And yet, maybe it is so well used because it allows us to reflect on meaningful analogies of maps, pathways and progress from one point to another. I find such analogies helpful in my coaching practice, in my academic career, my non-executive roles and now, more literally in route planning for my charitable walk. Equally, I find the act of stepping away from the desk, striding out towards the horizon a vital point of refresh for my brain, a place to find calm and perspective. These boots were made for thinking.
These boots were also made for fundraising! If you’d like to show support for this charitable campaign to end youth homelessness, please visit www.justgiving.com/campaign/homeful
You can follow Jo on Twitter @socialhousing
Jo is Professor of Housing and Social Inclusion, De Montfort University
and President of the Chartered Institute of Housing