#mission125 for reaching higher
Most of the people know me as a fireball, an energized professional always working hard to come up with new ideas, fighting for extraordinary results and never giving up. When there is a 50% chance of a 110% positive result, I am taking on it and run.
What most of you don´t know is what looks so strong and admiring is just a facade. Two years ago, my life took a turn. Starting with the changes at Leuze electronics and the will to get back to the US with SOLA and KESON which failed due to the visa regulations, I had a hard time to find myself and get used again to my life on this side of the ocean. Every time a had a new goal or dream set in place and it felt as I was on my way back to the top, things changed. Even though I tried hard, often things were out of my control but up to others.
Looking at my resumé, I see four companies in two years. This is definitely not something I am proud of but I am grateful that I have met people like Markus Maurer from VITRONIC and also my current boss at UNIVERSAL ROBOTS, Helmut Schmid who always saw the strength in me, believed in me and supported me.
I was (and still am) suffering from the symptoms of PTSD. That´s why I am always giving everything and trying to keep control over the things going on. That´s why I am pushing myself and others so hard but often have to realize that I have to let go. Some days, I am okay with it and things work out. Some days, I break down and cry.
Going through all of this, I figured that I had to find something beside work, that keeps me going and success or failure is only up to me. Thanks to my friend Jerome Dykas, I started running and with his support I ran my first half-marathon last year in May.
Being inspired by my friend Peter Groner (the man who will be running a marathon in every state), I set myself a goal in 2019: I wanted to run two marathons in five countries in one month. I called it my #mission125 and will be running the Lake Constance Marathon on Sunday October 6th and the Freep Marathon in Detroit on October 20th. That way I will be running Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the USA and Canada.
Training all summer helped me to deal with my past and I realized that running actually has a lot in common with the way I look at work: First of all, it´s all about the attitude. If you like what you do, you are doing it good. I am super excited about my work but also about my running. People can see the passion for both when I talk about it. Second: It´s important to have goals, define a strategy or a plan and then: Just do it. It doesn´t always have to be tremendous progress but if I take one step at a time and just stick to the plan, at the end, I will reach my goal. Third: staying focussed. Sometimes I tend to try too much at the same time and get ahead of myself. In running and work: Nobody remembers the (wo)man who gave up. So I´d rather do one thing right instead of trying 10 things and don´t do anything at all.
At the end I have to admit that I learned a lot in the last two years and I wouldn´t be me if life would have given me the easy way. Most of all, I am grateful that I experienced true friendship and support from my friends all over the world but also professional network such as managers, coworkers and customers. Blessed to have had the chance to meet those people and have them in my life, I want to give something back.
This is why I want to start this fundraiser for Reaching Higher, an organization in Brighton, MI supporting young people to become stronger, gaining more self confidence and making their way to become successful and value and ethics based people in our society. This organization has been recommended to me from my good friend Donald Scott Parker, who knows the people and the hard work they put into it. Please check on their website and see what they are doing: https://reachinghigherinc.org
With 1,000 USD we can sponsor 5 children for a 9 session-program.
Please help me support this project. I run, you donate. It´s easy.
Thank you!
