Official Report 865KB pdf
Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection, and our time for reflection leader today is David Jarvis of Speaking SBC.
Three years ago, I faced one of my biggest challenges—medical discharge from the British Army. After multiple injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, the life that I had known for two decades was gone. I was in a dark place mentally.
A year later, thanks to an array of veterans charities, I was heading for the Invictus games. I had purpose again, and direction. My training was not just about sport; it was about recovery.
Three months before the games, however, I became seriously ill. My body, which I thought I knew well, had suddenly become unpredictable. I lost more than a quarter of my body weight inside two weeks, and it turned out that I was only days from death.
The doctors diagnosed me with type 1 diabetes. They recommended that I consider quitting, accepting that the dream was over. It felt like the world was against me at every turn.
Then I had an epiphany. If the challenges would not stop, I would need unwavering focus. That meant that the target could no longer be about recovery. The significance of the goal had to match the scale of the challenge, so the choice was to go big or stay at home. It was gold or nothing.
I needed that target to keep me focused, because I was learning about this new, life-threatening condition through trial and error. Let me tell you, it was mostly error. I had more than 40 blood tests a day and countless insulin injections. There were days when my blood glucose levels just crashed without reasonable cause, leaving me shaking and struggling to stand, let alone train. There were nights when I lay awake with anxiety, questioning my sanity.
By the time I arrived in Germany for the Invictus games, in September 2023, I had learned enough to bring it all together. I stood on that podium with a gold medal around my neck not because the road got easier, but because I refused to step off it.
Here is the thing: resilience is not glamorous. It is not a motivational poster. It is showing up when quitting feels easier. It is stepping forward when the world pushes you back. I learned an important truth from my challenges: the world does not get easier; I have to get better at dealing with it. I could have relied more on doctors, teammates, coaches and my family. I—we—can delegate responsibility. However, accountability is where the buck stops, and, in my case, it had set up residence in the form of type 1 diabetes.
I was not responsible for my diagnosis, but I am accountable for how I respond to it. I am not responsible for every mistake, but I am accountable for applying every lesson learned. My accountability is important, because the challenges will just keep coming. There is no respite—every day is still a school day. The world can still feel relentless, but my focus remains resolute.
Your adversity might be very different from mine, but remember: you do not need perfect conditions to achieve something extraordinary. You just need the courage to be accountable—to own the outcome regardless of circumstances. Resilience is not about avoiding the storm; it is about pushing through, despite the challenges. You will come out a winner on the other side.
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