Update on the A Lust for Life runs and plans for 2017

The A Lust for Life team and board, along with the assistance of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland have been knee deep in strategy work over the past few months so that might explain why we’ve been quieter than usual. We’ve been flat out putting our heads and hearts together to create the best plan possible to take A Lust for Life to the next level. At the core of this is exploring how we can best contribute to deep and lasting systemic change in Ireland.

Our mission and enduring purpose is to;

1. Support, inspire and empower people to take care of their own minds
2. Change societal/cultural norms around mental health, humanising the conversation
3. Change societal infrastructure, so that our culture and society always catch people when they fall

This is why we exist. This is our commitment to you all.

We currently are a tiny team with minimal resources but we do have big plans so watch this space. All of this means we need to remain laser focused ensuring we put our energy in the best place possible to create the change we believe we can, together with the great individuals, communities, and organisations we connect in with throughout Ireland. We are in this together.

Some of you have been asking us recently about our runs and the long and short of it is that we have put the brakes on our runs for 2017 for two reasons. Firstly, managing huge events like these takes massive amounts of time and resources, and this is something we don’t have right now. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, one of A Lust for Life’s core tenets is to listen and we have actively listened to what the 1,000’s of people who have connected in with us since our launch in October 2015 have told us. We are radically moved and in fact strategically shaped by these conversations and connections which inform our work. We are highly driven to do our utmost to roll out the powerful campaigns we do plan to generate in 2017 which have been informed by so many of you. These campaigns will need all of our attention, hard work, dedicated focus and energy. To put it simply, it is unfortunately impossible for us to do everything.

We want to thank everyone who has taken part in our runs over the past couple of years. They have been truly inspiring events that offered spaces for solidarity, community, and an opportunity for those who took part to get out of their comfort zone. The funds raised from the runs also allowed A Lust for Life to keep going in year 1 of our operations, something we are so grateful for. Thanks also to all of our partners involved including The Irish Independent, VHI and Cork Airport who helped make the runs a reality along with our co-founder Derry McVeigh and also Karl Fitzgerald who managed these runs. The A Lust for Life Runner’s Facebook page remains a brilliant resource that is still rocking away, so do keep connecting in with that. We may organise more runs in 2018, we’ll keep you posted.

Right now, our team are honing in on two very specific campaigns that are very close to our hearts. We will keep you updated in the coming weeks and months on what these are.

Finally, why do we do what we do? Because we’ve had hard times too – the same as everyone else will have at some stage in their life on this planet, and we know it is possible to come through these times in an empowered way with the right information, support and systems in place. We’ve also had happy times in our lives. We know we can build on these better times, continually cultivating resilience, continually integrating new ways to take care of ourselves, empowering ourselves so we can thrive in this precious life we have. We passionately care about the welfare, the hearts and minds of people in our society. We live and breathe it and we are deeply committed to our work.

Thanks for bearing with us, for coming on the journey with us. We are only getting started.

With love from Susan and all the team at A Lust for Life