Not only me — everyone stumbles and falls somewhere on the road of life. Failure and setback happen to all of us.
The road I am on now, towards this large challenge, may run in the opposite direction from any world I have known before.
Even in motorsport, in classic car rallying, I have had plenty of experience of difficulty and of stretches I could not simply drive through.
But the rallying I had done until now was a challenge I could somehow manage within my own means.
This new adventure and challenge goes beyond what I can reach on my own strength. I have come to need other people’s support too.
So I made the decision to run a crowdfunding campaign.
With the backing of a great many people, things beyond my own reach are starting to become real. (Next month I am going to England to work on the maintenance of the car that will run Peking to Paris.)
I go forward with my heart shaking at how grateful I am.
Thank you, truly.
Taking on a challenge nobody has ever done means changing how you have thought and acted until now, and living days that push past your own limits.
From this experience, I hope with all my heart to hand a torch of flame into somebody’s heart.
So, as always, I will not forget how much it matters to keep smiling, and I will keep driving.
Not the stumble — what matters is how you get back up
I came across words from Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States.
“I am not concerned that you have stumbled. I am concerned with your getting up again.”
Unexpected walls still keep appearing, one after another. But there is a great deal to learn from them, every day.
I will be grateful for what those failures, setbacks and experiences teach me, and grow, again and again, as a person.
Getting up, falling, getting up again — that is how people grow strong.
Believing that, I go forward.