Shepherd of the hills

It seems fitting in this season of the Olympics to perhaps chat about a person that demonstrates all, and more, of the courage of an Olympic athlete and continues to inspire. Even though she never made it to an Olympic games to perform as an athlete this potential Olympian has proven to be a gold medal winner in the stadium of life rather than sport.

I had the pleasure of chatting to Janine Shepherd earlier this year on the publication of her new book.

For those that don’t know Janine was preparing for the 1988 Calvary Winter Olympics and touted to be Australia’s first ever medallist in the Winter Olympics as a skier when she was hit by a truck while riding her bike on a training ride in the blue mountains. The outlook of the doctors was bleak. Janine’s neck and back were broken and she had massive blood loss, a damaged abdomen and had sustained internal injuries. Her leg had been torn open and her ribs and collarbone were fractured.

But Janine proved the doctors wrong and slowly began rehabilitation. At a time when she was struggling to walk Janine’s answer was she would learn to fly, gaining a licence and if that wasn’t enough she became an aerobatics instructor as well as becoming Australia’s first female director of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority! Janine has always been a goal getter as we;; as a goal setter and talented in many sports. She encourages others to go after their goals too.

Janine has became a prolific author, penning four books on her experiences and her story was also made into a telemovie.

Janine realised her dream of taking part in an Olympics when she was torch bearer at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney and since then as continued to evolve as an athlete including dabbling in dressage.

For all her achievements Janine has had many awards bestowed upon her including an order of Australia and is very involved in the public speaking circuit.

Something that Janine always says and that is bought to the fore in her new book of inspirational quotes is that:

“You have to love the hills but not necessarily like them.”

It encourages us to learn to love the challenges even if we don’t particularly like them!

Janine is a living example of believing in oneself to overcome the odds and indeed she shows it can be done. Of course Janine was an athlete at peak fitness at the time of the accident so perhaps this higher than average physical excellence gave her a strong chance of overcoming the challenges before her, but Janine believes we all have the ability to harness that energy within us and it all starts with being able to accept where we are and work from there. It is part of being human to accept some things will be a struggle but by accepting them we are on our way to overcoming, achieving and working through the hard times to get to the good ones.

Janine is in high demand on the talk circuit in Australia and now America also beckons for some of Janine’s inspirational wisdom.

Janine is a admirer of Deeprak Chopra and one wonders with the spirituality surrounding her if that symbolism of her name is not a coincidence. With her inspiration and encouragement for others Janine really is a shepherd leading her flock into believing in their own strengths and ability to overcome obstacles and by loving those obstacles or hills learning to take them in their stride.

Janine’s new book ‘The Gift of Acceptance’ is out now.
Paula Xiberras