2019. It’s a Wrap [ZIM Hippo]
We are fast approaching the New Year when celebrations will be had, new years resolutions will be made and we charge headlong into another year on this planet. For some it has been a torrid time. Fires in Australia, elections around the globe, droughts and famine in Africa, and many other challenges around our personal lives. Let’s hope that all ends well and we can leave the past in the past and move forward to new goals and keep pushing the boundaries along life’s rocky road.
For the Hippos, it has been an amazing year – we started it by purchasing a house in Surrey. Like any new house owners, we had plans to redo this, change that, add this, repaint that, get windows replaced and many other things along the way. Let’s say that most of those have turned into 5 – 10 year plans! We also did a fair bit of time in the water; significant personal events and challenges this year have included:
- The Summer Solstice Swim – 3 hours of day and night swimming
- The annual Waveney River Swim (in Norwich) – I managed a first place in my category of male skins swimmers with the support and help of Audra (aka the SlimHippo, my beautiful wife) slicing her way along the edge of the river, keeping her eye on me and providing fabulous support
- Being invited to the Channel Swimming Piloting Federation Annual Awards Ceremony – we had a wonderful evening there
- Being invited back to Scotland for the Loch Lomond Relay Swim – which my team (aka the Dream Team) won
- Spending a weekend up in Scotland that was great fun, and I thank Mark Sheridan for inviting us and the British Long Distance Swimming Association for putting on the event. I hope they will put this on again!
- Helping out as kayak support for swimmers last summer, so many lovely moments when people achieved their dreams by breaking out of their comfort zones
- My final swim of the year – the Steve Wand Invitational Memorial Swim (FYI I’ve covered this in my previous blog)
But the most outstanding month came in December. After about 4 years of throwing words on a piece of paper, writing my blogs and generally getting great feedback from them, I finally organised all those random thoughts, put them into a Word document and gave them to my wife, her sister and Dr Nicholas Murch for fact checking and editing. 400 pages was swiftly whittled down to 280, then again reduced to 260 and by the time my birthday was approaching, I had the makings of a book. At the end of November, the Slimhippo and I did a final read through, and the 260 pages became 240. I realised that if I left it any longer, there would be no book left! So I awoke early on my birthday, dragged the poor long suffering woman out of bed at the crack of dawn and announced that I would like to give myself a birthday present – I was going publish!
In the next few hours, we hastily threw together a bit of marketing blurb, and finalised a name – ‘Let’s Do Something Different’. We had absolutely no idea what the hell we were doing but 15 takes later, we had put together a small video and after a bit of editing, we put it out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/graeme.schlachter/videos/10156655482526884/. The wait for feedback began…
The next few days were a bit of a blur, with people contacting me from around the globe, long term friends and old school buddies, even a few anonymous readers, as sales started going through. To my surprise in this digital age, more people wanted to purchase the paperback version of ‘Let’s Do Something Different’ than the electronic version. Formatting the text from A4 to A5 and creating a cover was a bit of a challenge, but by the time I was done, I had my first feedback – 5 stars on Amazon! It was completely surreal.
I had sold a decent number paperbacks before a friend pointed out that the content was amazing but it would be very useful as a reference guide if there was a table of contents and some actual page numbers! I was a bit annoyed with myself. E-books create them for you at publishing so there is no need to put them in for the electronic version, but in my haste to create the paperback, I had completely forgotten to do it. Rookie error!
Despite this, a few more 5 star reviews popped up on Amazon. I was gobsmacked! The journey continued with a radio interview on Brooklands Radio, (A local community radio station) where I was invited in to talk about my book and all things swimming. It was a great experience to be able to talk about my passion – not only swimming, but how to prepare the mind for life’s big challenges. Queries about my training regimes and my approach to ultra-distance events have since been coming in. My book includes many techniques that are very useful in life when stepping outside of your comfort zone.
So, as we close out 2019, I have truly surprised myself. To say that my book is one of the things I am most proud of is a complete understatement.
I have grappled for many years with the fact that I have never really been proud of any of my big achievements; sailing in multiple world championships, swimming the English channel (my first ever long distance swim), Loch Lomond, Lake Zurich, SCAR, Lago D’Orta, my horse riding and triathlon accomplishments. None of them filled me with a lasting sense of pride. I now realise why! All of them were done by me for me – a bit selfish. Whilst I have always had a team of amazing supporters around me, who have given up a lot of their time and life, all my challenges have been very “Me-centric“.
My challenges have been an integral part of publishing “Let’s do something different”. I hope that my book continues to inspire others to find their extraordinary self and encourage them to push their comfort zone. Making a positive difference in a person’s life by sharing my personal experiences and exploits, finally makes me proud.
I look forward to coaching and helping people find their fantastic ‘out of their comfort zone’ way in 2020, and I will continue to push my boundaries too. Probably to the extent where I feel completely overwhelmed, but I have total trust in my team around me who support me in everything I do.
If you need some support from me, please get in touch by commenting on this post or personal messaging me with your contact details.
Happy 2020, may all your dreams come true.