Inspiration In The Making

Inspiration In The Making

A Journey Worth Following

submitted by Small Business Connecticut

Donna Stokes’ journey has been incredible. Donna is a small business owner, cancer survivor, and adventurer. She’s also over 50 and 80+ lbs lighter than she was several years ago. In a couple short days will fly out to Albany, OR where she will begin her lifelong ambition of walking across the U.S.A. For Donna, the dream started as that crazy goal you have as a child but nagged her far longer. Starting April 12th, Donna will begin her 7 month sojourn from everyday life and take on a far more grueling challenge – physically and mentally.   

I think Donna's story is amazing and an inspiration to us all. As Small Business Owners, we are all risk takers. Donna knows this first hand. Her journey through business and life has not been an easy one.

Donna was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth- quite the opposite. Her first husband died leaving her with an infant, broke and with a lot of bills. She leveraged her credit to buy the only thing she could afford to be able to keep a roof over her head and food in their mouths. She purchased a 3 family home in a tough neighborhood in Hartford, CT. She learned how to fix roof leaks, plumb, fix holes in the walls, shake down rough tenants for rent and everything else she needed to do in order to keep some money coming in. She then bought another similar home on the same street.

Within several years, Donna purchased adjacent properties in an attempt to continue to grow her wealth, but also to change a neighborhood. Her strategy allowed her to retire at 45 and raise a beautiful young woman who will graduate early from a terrific college this spring.

What Donna regularly mentions is how the YMCA saved her life. After an intense battle with thyroid cancer, Donna showed up at the YWCA in Plainville, CT to take her life back. The long battle and intense treatments left her incredibly overweight and tired. After several years of dragging herself to the gym, Donna has lost over 80lbs (maybe more) and has really challenged herself to become healthy and fit.

This woman's incredible drive helped her not only raise a child with no support system, but create a successful real estate franchise and handle debilitating rounds of cancer treatments simultaneously.

The sheer grace and determination with which Donna has handled each challenge her life has thrown at her has been an inspiration.

Here are some cool things I've learned because of our new friend:

- Donna will wear out approximately 8 pairs of sneakers on this walk.

- Nebraska is the worst state to walk through because of heat, open plains and tornadoes

- She will not see people, hotels or towns for some times as long as several days

- She will need to push a buggy across the US with her because she can't possibly carry all the water you need to carry to survive between cities.

- She will have a tent, but you have to sleep wherever. Maybe a corn field, under a bridge, on the side of the road... I never once thought about the courage required to do this before now. We hope her journey includes generous hotels and neighbors offering her more comfortable places to rest.

- You have to carry a knife and bear spray because of wild animals trying to attack you. She can't carry a gun because of gun laws in different states.

These are tactical issues. Here are some of the more difficult challenges ahead:

Physically.

Donna has been training for over a year. In the middle, fracturing her foot, but not deterring her. The sheer idea of walking for a full 8 hours seems painful and exhausting. She’ll be challenged with terrain and unpredictable weather. Despite weather challenges, redirecting her course is completely unrealistic while on foot. 7 months of walking every day for 8 hours is grueling. 7 days of unpredictable outside factors makes it impossible to imagine.

Emotionally.

She is alone. There will be no car following her. There will be no friends cheering her on. We truly expect her to leave as one person and come back as another. There will be weeks where she may not have the opportunity to see or talk to anyone for a very long span of time.

Financially.

Donna’s retirement is comfortable and sustaining. I wouldn’t call her wealthy. The cost of supplies and hotels (when she can find them) is surprisingly high.  

I’m inspired by this woman. She is following a dream. Some people think her dream is crazy.

I understand it to be something far more important. Whether it’s a bucket list item, that crazy, gnawing idea or just a personal (physical or emotional) goal we’ve set for ourselves – I think we all need to follow Donna’s lead.

I sat down a few years ago and asked myself what I would regret if I died today. That question made me realize the fears I didn’t face and it created our amazing company (Small Business CT.)

If we could all take a moment and allow Donna to inspire us, I think we’d realize that dreams are only our future hindered by fear. If we can eliminate our fear, we can live our dream.

You can follow Donna’s journey on Facebook on her page, Donna’s Walk Across America 2014.

Good luck Donna! More people than you know are cheering you on!