01/01/2026
1stly Happy New Years to everyone we hope 2026 brings health, happiness and growth.
I wanted to do this as a video post but I've struggled to find the energy to point a camera at my face and speak. The last couple of years for me have been a battle to overcome some serious mental health challenges but I'm fighting and learning daily to develop self-belief and resilience and I'm winning.
It's probably Ironic as what I want to speak about is speaking, sharing and community and here I am unable to do it on camera.
I have a common thought that runs through my head most days and that is do we provide value to the community or are we wasting our time with all the effort we are putting in. Because sometimes it feels that way.
The reason I ask myself this question is because to me it feels like we are having less and less connection with the community as the years go on. It's definitely not from lack of trying but as they say you're wasting your time beating a dead horse. I reflect on this and question what I am doing wrong for this to be the case.
We created W4W to be a group that is about challenging ourselves to do difficult things in order to develop a Warriors Mindset and in this area besides the opportunity through the Endurance Challenge we haven't lived up to the goal. However we have spoken extensively about how we see a significant part of the Warrior Mindset being about Teamwork, Sacrifice and Service and to that end I believe we have met all our goals.
Basically as far as I personally see things we need help and that is what this post is about.
We have endeavoured to create connections with as many local organisations that either through their actions support physical and mental health. I feel we need to continue this hard work because it benefits everyone. If you are active in a group or organisation and see value in what we are about please reach out and include us in events we want to be part of making a positive impact and only see positives in us all working together.
Lets talk SOCIAL MEDIA. Social media seems like the only scale of success these days. How many followers, How many posts, How many likes. without all of this you don't get exposure you are missed and forgotten about. Everyone lives through social media. I personal don't want to and am trying to move away from it. I want my relationships it be in person outside. However without it we are invisible. We need help to do social media. We are doing the real work in the background but because we are failing to do all the social media stuff we are not reaching the people. We need help we need people to see value in what we are doing and we need people to want to support and be part of Walking4Warriors.
The reality is all the work that is being done by this organization is being done by a very small amount of people and the honest truth is most of the last 3yrs there are only ever 2 or 3 healthy people at any one time doing all the planning, organising, fundraising and physical work, Along with some awesome volunteers when they can. I think what is happening is we are that exhausted mentally that we struggle to do the bu****it social media side of things and then we don't have the potential impact.
My hope is to see all the organisations that have a connection with physical and mental health endeavouring to really make supporting each other a priority and in doing so really make a difference in the lives of many. I've said it many times to many people I personally don't care what logo you wear on your shirt we are or should be all hear for the same reason which is to have a positive impact on as many people as possible and together this is possible.
Let's work together to do more and help more. If you are organising something share it with us, invite us, ask us to help if we can we definitely will. We will do the same. If you have an idea see if anyone here wants to join in. They might not know your group exists and it might be exactly what they need.
I just want to finish with 2 things.
The Endurance Challenge seems to be getting less and less support. WHY?. this event was created to honour our Veterans and as spoken about also includes our 1st Responders. It does that!. It recognises their service it demonstrates our appreciation and support for their commitment to community. It raises money to support them and us through the year. 100% of the registration money goes straight into supporting our community. Finally it really has a positive impact on so many people to see others willing to sacrifice for them. We need participant support. I think we are currently at 10 registrations we need 200. We need a commitment from you in order to have the confidence and information to bring all the logistics together and we start the preparation now. We made a mistake last yr of trying to have it over Easter weekend. This year it falls on The same weekend as Rocky Nats and Bella the Brave so we have those challenges but surely we can support all events. Come and join us for 3hrs or 6hrs if you can't do 12 or 24hrs every bit of support helps. Register and do it virtually if you can't attend on the day. Organise with others to do it as a group. If your an elite athlete do it as a training run if your an busted up or not an elite athlete do it as a legitimate challenge. Use it as the driving force to change your life.
Lets take a second to reflect on what we have done and are doing as an organisation.
1. We are standing out the front of Bobs Garage every Monday afternoon. We have always been committed to the value of short weekly walks to start the process of talking and have tried several times to get them off the ground around the area. We weren't actually considered as a group of value initially but through open honest conversation and being humble and committed we are the boots on the ground in Gladstone standing out the front incase someone turns up. We definitely support the other organisations with the same values and I even said to the management team I didn't care who's logo we operated under as long as we are there to support mental health. We live up to the commitment every Monday.
2. We have built a Bush Retreat for everyone in our community to use free of charge 45min from Gladstone. No one has used it. WHY??. its the perfect place to get away from the world for a day or a night. Yes the infrastructure is basic but it's something and if we could get support and people were using it we would be enthused to work even harder to keep developing it. If you don't know about it or want to know more just ask.
3. Last yr we supported several events in our region as best we could and donated many of our free days to support where we can.
4. Last year Sianne also obtained funding for 2 separate workshops as alternative ways to assist with mental health. An Arts workshop and Equine Therapy. Both these events where funded separate to our stuff but related through the mental health platform.
5. We also organised 2 hikes 1 at Kroombit tops and 1 on the Boyne rail trail.
This year we will continue to stand on the footpath at Bobs Garage and hopefully the word can get out that we are there to support Men's mental health through conversation.
We have plans to organise Walks and BBQ's at East shores.
We will definitely be keen to support other organisations if they need our help to be successful.
Hopefully we can get the support to run another successful Endurance Challenge and we will keep working to support the community.
Oh I nearly forgot about the coffee that we have pre-paid for at Mindcare in Gladstone.
Please feel free to provide constructive criticism. I'd rather know and be able to adjust our approach if possible rather than investing so much time and energy and still feel like we are failing.
I'm happy to own my mistakes and can only learn from it.
Fingers crossed that through open honest conversation we can build a stronger community and develop the resilience to be great through hard times.
Craig Watson.
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