"It’s not about the end goal, but what you achieve along the way" - Derek Wilson on his 24hr Walk for Emergency Service's Mental Health charities.
Mind Matters athlete Dek Wilson isn’t motivated by race results or Strava KOMs: for him, helping others and being the best father possible makes him spring out of bed in the mornings. He explains why he chooses to regularly take on ‘crazy’ charity events and how finding your ‘why’ can be the most powerful tool in your training toolbox.
Dek completed the 2020 Geelong half ironman wearing full firefighters gear for the run.
I get asked a lot of the time:
‘Where do you come up with these ideas?’
‘How do you push yourself to do these charity events?’
‘Why do you push yourself to the physical limit?’
‘Have you always been this crazy?’
Well, no! I haven’t always been this ‘crazy’ – it’s really only in the last few years that I’ve found what I love. I’ve found my passion: my drug, I guess you could say.
My own family have had their fair share of tough times which were mentally and physically exhausting.
Dek whilst completing Victoria’s 7 peaks in 2019 raising money for Type1 Diabetes.
In a six-month period, I lost my dad, my youngest daughter (aged 2.5 at the time) was diagnosed Type 1 diabetic and my oldest daughter was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis. This turned our lives upside down. Life at the time was dark: I remembered many nights sitting on the end of my daughter’s bed at 2am after checking her levels in tears, thinking ‘how can I keep going?’ I was exhausted both physically and mentally.
I had done no physical activity for over 20 years. I decided that I wasn’t going to turn 40 and not be able to move. I felt like an 80-year-old man, plus I was at risk of medical conditions because of an unhealthy lifestyle, I became petrified that my girls would grow up without their dad.
Dek with his daughter Mirandah who lives with T1 Diabetes and doggy Koda whom is a low blood sugar alert dog who has been trained specifically to alert of low blood sugar levels in Mirandah.
It was my girls that made me stop, take a good hard look at myself. How could I preach to my girls that anything is possible with hard work, commitment, passion and drive if I wasn’t doing the same thing myself?
I was lucky enough to meet the right people – the people who helped me turn my own life around and actually be the person – the dad – my family needed. It was not just one decision on its own, it was a multitude of a whole lot of little things that came together at once. My cousin invited me to take on the Melbourne Firefighters Stairclimb, I met my cycle coach and Mind Matters founder Justin Morris by chance, and my oldest daughter said something that changed my life forever.
“I started riding my bike, and honestly I nearly quit almost daily in the first three months. But I persisted: I couldn’t let my girls see me quit because I knew that they had no option at all to quit with what they were going through.”
Don’t get me wrong, I would take away my girls’ auto-immune diseases in a heartbeat if I could. We still fight every day, but we have learnt as a family together that we can achieve anything. It takes time, hard work and a different mindset in order to look at things in a totally different way.
Dek and his oldest daughter Tovah riding in the Victorian high country.
I don’t believe in motivation: motivation comes and goes. I believe you have to find your passion, your ‘why’: that thing which really drives you, so much so that you spring out of bed every morning no matter your excuses. For me, it’s helping others. My passion for helping others has just grown and grown: it’s become my drug, my drive, my happy place.
“I also love pushing myself to new limits. You learn to embrace the physical pain to the point you start to enjoy it, to the point you want to see just how far you can go physically and mentally. ”
Dek during his 2019 7 peaks ride.
I’ve read a lot about mental strength. For me, this is something you can’t teach. It’s something you build over time. I believe it all comes from your passion, commitment and desire. You have to want something so bad that you will physically push yourself to the point you body gives in before your mind. When you get to this point, you find that you can actually keep pushing further than you ever thought possible.
With each event I do, I learn so much more about myself, my body and my own capabilities. Not every event goes to plan, and this is something I’ve struggled to learn to deal with.
Recently, when I set out to walk 100km in 24 hours in my full structural firefighter’s kit – with breathing apparatus – to support the Melbourne Firefighters Stair Climb, I learnt the real value behind what I love to do.
Personally, I did not complete what I had set out to do. I managed to get to 85km before I made the painful decision that I couldn’t go any further. This was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. I was physically exhausted. I was in so much pain I could hardly walk and I was in tears – which I later found out was due to stress fractures in my legs and feet.
My mind said I had to keep going but my body had really got to the point where it was done. The pain I had pushed through for almost 12 hours had finally got to me. To be fair, my support team thought I was done 12km before this point!
Dek Wilson on his 100km walk.
The worst pain that I felt at the time wasn’t physical, though. It was feeling like I was letting everyone down: the people who had helped me put the walk together, the people who supported me along the way and been with me from the start, the people who had donated and sent me messages of support, and I also thought I’d let my girls down.
But it’s funny. While sitting at the hospital I had time to reflect, time to actually sit there and read the messages I’d gotten overnight while walking and the messages I’d received when people heard I’d had to stop. It made me realise that sometimes it’s not about the end goal, but what you achieve along the way.
“I was actually so happy – on the inside, because physically I was still hurting! I learnt that when you give everything, when you commit yourself to a cause, when you do it with so much passion, people can see the real story behind what you’re doing and why – no matter the outcome”
Dek on bring your daughter to work day at the farm he manages in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley.
The support I received while on the walk was just mind blowing. Little things like kids bringing out icy poles, the donations, people coming up to you in tears because the cause means so much to them, the community spirit and local businesses that got behind it. This, to me, is what it’s all about, it’s what pushes me through so much pain, training and commitment. It’s what will see me come back time and time again.
In a time when there seems to be so much doom and gloom in the world, it was incredible to see that there is really so much good out there if we just open our eyes and want to see it.
The way I look at it is, if I can change one person’s perspective, if I can change one person’s life, if I can encourage one person who’s going through tough times that things can and will get better, then all my blood, sweat and tears has been worth it.
People really do care. If we all did one little act of kindness, I think we would be surprised just how much we can make to just one person’s life.
The Melbourne Firefighter Stair Climb is all about raising awareness of PTSI, depression and suicide awareness within our emergency services. It supports charities like the Black Dog Institute, Lifeline Australia and the 000 Foundation. For more information, visit https://www.firefighterclimb.org.au. To donate, visit https://www.firefighterclimb.org.au/climber/derekwilson/
“It made me realise that sometimes it’s not about the end goal, but what you achieve along the way. ”