“I’ve gone from a life without limbs to a life without limits.”-Nick Vujicic
Don’t let the world discourage you because of what you don’t have or can not do. There is so much we need to be grateful for and can use in our lives to make a difference. Adversity is often a tool to gain empathy. It is a great teacher of life so that we in return can help others.
Events in life make us question why we are all here. Are we just here to live and to die? Is that it? Maybe you are wondering if we are all worthless? Or is there something more? These questions make people want to give up, and for others it makes them move forward. Please know that in the end all things work together for good.
Nick Vujicic probably has more right than anyone to hate life and find it meaningless. He was born with no limbs. He uses his foot, which he likes to call his, “chicken drumstick”, to operate an electric wheelchair. As you can imagine, Nick was bullied in school. Yet he is known around the world for his motivational speeches. He has written 7 books and started two non-profit organizations, Life Without Limbs and Attitude with Altitude. He now lives in Southern California with his wife and two kids.
I guess you can say Nick Vujicic has overcome adversity. How is working out and swimming a way of overcoming adversity? For one thing, strength training and swimming are great ways to look back at your accomplishments and help you realize that you are much more capable than you realized. We learn to bounce back from your failures. We all fail. We get sick, we get hurt, or we tear others down with our words. Our suits tear before a race. Nick has been quoted saying, “You don’t have to be in a wheelchair to know what pain is.” We have all experiences, the let down and devastation of these events at varying degrees. But they don’t have to define us. We get to learn from these mistakes and wrong decisions.
Continue pursuing your goals. The world will tell you you are weak, will be a have not, and a mistake. Don’t believe the lies. Push on so you can explore what you are truly made of. Working out and sports teach us that things don’t always go well and that failure does happen. These moments teach us to cope with things that are hard in life. It will teach you to keep trying to work through the hard stuff even if you are sick and tired of dealing with an issue. This is an important skill that will help us tremendously in life.
Nick Vujicic’s question to us all is: will you finish strong?