Pilot Pilot Pilot Pilot your our our our life ife ife ife Welcome to issue no. 5 of Pilot your life. November 2009 A few years ago, while driving through the Adelaide Hills with three other pilot friends, I had a head on collision with an American driving on the wrong side of the road. We were all injured and took considerable time to recover. In my case, I had neck, back, knees, feet and hand injuries. Quite devastating physically, emotionally and financially. I also had to endure months of rehabilitation while at the same time fluctuating through bouts of anger, depression, self pity and resentment. However, I had survived an accident and it could have been worse. So to help myself through this, I decided that one of the first ways to begin overcoming adversity was to count my blessings. I wrote down as many positives that I could think of, the first being that we were all alive. My plans for the next few years had to be put on hold while I was recovering. However, to progress beyond this devastating life event I had to set myself a goal. I decided that to help my rehabilitation I would prove that nothing was going to slow me down permanently. I was going to walk Tasmania’s Overland Track – a six day eighty kilometre hike from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair. Like for my flight around the coastline, I planned and prepared. I worked out at the gym to strengthen my leg muscles, did weight training in order to carry my backpack, and I walked kilometres with my pack to increase my stamina and endurance. Setting and achieving my goal aided my healing process. Taking my time on the track meant that I was really able to appreciate the country that I was walking through and to photograph its many moods. In retrospect, maybe this was the accident that I had to have. I’ve been forced to divert from my original track and alter my course to explore different possibilities that I otherwise wouldn’t have dreamt of. Sometimes adversity is just a strong crosswind blowing us onto our new heading.