Overcoming fear and doubt is something I've found we just have to be through. These thoughts will emerge—it’s natural to have fears and doubts. But if I just be through it—in the moment, let them float down the river of thought—what’s left behind is the rock-hard truth beneath.
The only way we’d have a 2nd annual anything was going to be through the commitment of the group and strong leadership. It was relieving that I wasn’t going to have to shoulder the burden alone and it felt good working towards our milestones as a team.
Mentioning how 2020 impacted us is a moot point. We had hardly snapped our inaugural board photo when the entire globe went into lockdown. A strange and sullen peace fell over the world, so much so it invited the wild into our cities to roam the abandoned streets and temporarily reclaim what their ancestors had lost to our growth and domain.
Month after month, as the emergency crisis refused to subside, we had to transition into a new state of being, a state of heightened awareness, because of fear and uncertainty, because of loss and suffering. But we could not give way to these feelings, we needed to persevere. So we did.
During 2020, our board:
Handled all filings and documentation retention;
Held board meetings and ensured commitments/goals;
Managed financials;
Completed fundraising and networking;
Developed vision, mission and board obligations;
Developed a social media presence;
Completed target customer research; and
Created a schedule of events.
We even managed to capture our 2nd annual board photo. I managed to see through the fear and possible curse I put on us by asking for that first photo to commemorate our first annual—our inaugural—event. We weren’t cursed, we had always been blessed since our inception.
And that’s how I knew we were (still) on the right path—because who else besides Piper could inspire me to be so grammatically correct and want to let everyone else know? “Which is it, inaugural, 1st annual, neither, or both?” In reality, both are fine, but it comes down to intention and action. In the words of Nike, “Just do it.” We just had to make it happen, so we did.
My ski team captain didn’t really have the intention and never took the action needed to ensure his race meet was really, truly, an annual event—and that is the exact opposite of what Piper’s Peak is about.
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