Failure is not an option
Goodness gracious how audacious!!!! Can anyone tell me what that line was from? (yes, I know how to use Google). “Life is like a bowx of chocolates. You nevva know whatchoo gonna get”. Ahhhh, too easy. But… Dinah Washington said it best in that wistful silky smooth voice of hers, “What a difference a day makes”.
Great for some, but shite for the rest. I had a few phone meetings lined up this morning and I was hoping for a miracle to my impossible feat of my 7 weeks to go to Kenya quandary. Alas, reality bit me fair and square on the arse and left its teeth marks firmly imprinted on my left cheek! It is this hard dose of arse biting, honesty, time constraints and my avid will to go to Kenya and do it properly that leads me to the tough but probably for the best decision to use the next 12 months to fundraise, and not the seven paltry weeks I was giving myself and boundless hope!
For someone who has never fundraised on a solo project before it seems daunting, terrifying, and a little bit mental to attempt to persuade people to part with their money given the economic climate regardless of how much time you have on your hands. The world is in shit (I did warn of the profanity), taxes rise for those who can’t afford them, food insecurity is now a commonly used term, and there seems to be a wall of endless bucket holders on every street all but emotionally blackmailing you and following you home to get your hard-earned cash. But but but… this is different!!!!!!! That’s what they all say!
The most terrifying part is giving into the “fear”. The fear of not being able to convince people to give to a fantastic and worthy cause. There’s also the fear that some people will assume it’s a way to send myself on holiday (it’s not). That said, there’s no room for giving into fear on a fundraising jaunt now is there? There are so many things to take into consideration when asking people to financially support you on your bid to raise awareness for anything nowadays, let alone species they didn’t know existed – “ehh, weren’t they extinct already?” or “monkeys? really?”. Website upon website produce lists and more lists of how to appeal to people to get them to part with their money. “Move with the times” they say, which implies that if you don’t know how social media works or accept the harsh reality that even the average layperson wants a return on their investment, then you my friend need a smack in the chops!
So what’s my plan? In short, I’d like to get everyone drunk under one roof, butter them up with Irish charm and emotionally blackmail them until they open their wallets to help with that £3,000 or so 
(I’m sorry, but I bloody LOVE a good emoticon). Because that’s not an ideal plan of action, the REAL plan is to organise and “ship-shape” the hell out the next 12 months to innovate and create fantastic fun ways to raise money as opposed to the gleaming egg in my face hope that it could be done in 7 weeks. God damn that feckin’ infectious excitement of mine! Such a bloody trickster!
In short, instead of 7 weeks, I now have 60! WIN WIN! I have to be a glass half full kind of girl when it comes to this decision because I am ever the bloody realist and an eternal dreamer of the impossible. I’m also ever the walking, talking, long-haired paradox, and will therefore keep this blog going with my fundraising plans and observations. Likewise, I’ll keep the audio-blog on its toes too so that there’s a lilt to my frustration at the burst bubble of ‘the dream that was’.
Roll on KENYA 2013… Eh, instead! I might be a glass half full kind of girl for this particular situation, but in my daily “real” self there is only one response I would have if it weren’t me… “What a bloody ball ache!!!!”.
Peace out! (Ya. I said it!!)
S
x
