(Pretty thistle)

Another story from the Success Team. This one is about Pandora. In fact, Juno from yesterday’s story gave each member of the team a Goddess name, so I’ll use those from now on. Pandora came to Success Teams because I made it sound like a good idea! Unfortunately, the timing was bad for her and she would only be able to make the first or second night due to holidays. So she came along to check things out and maybe join a team in the future. She never left…..

(We have minature strawberries growing among our weeds!)

On that first night Pandora told us she wanted to have the freedom to live and work for a portion of each year in Lanzarote (a Spanish island). By the second night she had included a man in Lanzarote in her wish! And on that same night the team had changed the day we meet to allow Pandora attend. Week three she was on holiday in Lanzarote and via Skype she was also at the table with her team.

(Are you open to help?)

I won’t go into the personal details but Pandora’s journey has been bumpy, she has compared her emotions to the volcanos of her Spanish island, but she is doing the work. She has had to let go of strongly held beliefs about herself which were not useful. She has had to be strong in the face of opposition from others. She has had to make difficult decisions and while she did all this she also did her homework! She read the chapters, she trusted the process, she took support from her newly created team and she has survived, in fact she has thrived.

(Happy Bee)

On one occasion we had just listened to a long list of things Ellie had completed that week, then it was Pandora’s turn and she said “I feel so bad I’ve done nothing, just turn up here.” Her team gave her the loudest applause and encouragement. They recognised that sometimes turning up is more than enough.

Pandora is still in Lanzarote, she attended and contributed to the idea party via skype and had the party laughing out loud at her story. When you can tell your hard story like that you are a success. Each member of the team held out a helping hand to Pandora, and she gave them the gift of accepting their help. Help is out there but it takes courage to ask and to accept. Pandora is a courageous woman.

More stories on the way, Mairead.