Life is full of surprises. Not all of them pleasant.
When you hit an obstacle in life, how do you respond?
Yes, you who are reading these words: How to you respond?
Do you give up? Or do you fight to overcome the obstacle?
Or are you able to draw inspiration from the obstacle life has put in your way? Sounds impossible, doesn’t it.
Imagine this …
Amy Purdy was just 19 years old, gorgeous, a passionate snowboarder, ready to travel the world.
Then, one day, everything changed.
Amy contracted bacterial meningitis, fell into a coma and finally lost both her legs. After she left the hospital, Amy fell into a deep depression. But then something amazing happened that changed her life completely: she found a way to draw inspiration from the catastrophic event.
Her story is one of the most inspiring accounts I’ve ever encountered. If you want an instant lift of spirits and want to know how you too could draw inspiration from life’s obstacles, please watch the video below.
[If you are reading this by email, click on the headline above to watch the video on Goodlife ZEN]
What’s your response to the video? Please share in the comments.
About the author:
Mary Jaksch is the blogger behind Goodlife ZEN. If you haven’t already got it, download the free chapter of her inspiring book, Start Over: Create the Life You Want. Just fill out the form below or in the sidebar to get it right away.
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Truly inspiring; thank you so much. It really is about our reaction to things rather than what happens that determines the quality of life. What a great lesson this is for everyone facing an obstacle.
Yes, I agree, Molly. It shines a whole new light on how obstacles can be a gift.
yes really true it’s all a matter of psychology & the reaction to challenges we experience
I so appreciate this blog and all the sharings contained herein. Thank you for this wonderful gift.
Thanks, Michelle – I appreciate you stopping by and commenting.
I loved this video and the message. I was much older than Amy when I got sick and had to regain my strength. Like her, I believe that my life (eventually) turned out for the better. It did take all of my creativity and the discipline of an athlete. I’m sure that people looking at me now don’t think of me as an athlete but I became one on the inside. I am writing about recovering from an illness or injury in my new blog. I’m going to use her story in one of my posts.
I love the idea of ‘being an athlete on the inside’, Suzanne. It’s true that we learn so much from intensive training, whether it’s in the realm of sports, martial arts, classical music, Zen, or whatever else.
I wish you all the best for your path of healing and discovery.
WOW, thanks for sharing this!
I love how she talked about the choice with our obstacles being (1) let them stop us in our tracks, or (2) force us to get creative.
It’s crucial to adjust our perceptions and re-define the “borders” in our lives.
The second one, ‘force us to get creative’ is especially interesting, Kyle.
I notice in my writing practice that I’m much more creative when there are boundaries. If I sit down to write and ‘anything goes’ – nothing happens. If I have a narrow topic that I need to write about, my creativity is heightens.
The same principle seems to be at work when obstacles narrow our options.
Thanks for the inspiration, Amy and Mary
This morning I woke up and had dreamt that my relationship to my husband was reconciled. It felt wonderful and made me cry tears of joy at the same time. Amy said she felt how the wind in her face would feel if she would snow board again. If you can imagine it you can get there. If you can’t imagine it how will you know where to go?
Dear bele,
The last line of your post….”If you can’t imagine it how will you know where to go?”…..just became my spring board.
Thank you.
From the bottom of my heart and the edge of my spring board,
Jennifer Rinehart,
Everett, Washington
The video was inspiring. My favorite part was her first positive realization about the loss of her legs – the realization that should could be taller. I was able to picture her mind working through the positives and it’s awesome that she went on from there to do even more great things. Thanks for sharing this.
p.s. I think your commentluv is broken, it gave some errors for me.
That switch to the positive is hard, Eric. We’re so used to spinning negative stories in our mind of how things could have been different, why things happened, and so on.
The great thing is that we can choose not to follow these mind stories and focus on what is present instead. It’s freedom.
Mary:
I agree. This is one of the most inspiring stories I’ve heard as well.
It puts in perspective the silliness of the smaller, every day obstacles we all tend to let throw us off track. Thanks!
I agree, Gary – it’s so good to get a perspective on the daily bumps on life’s road. Thanks for leaving a comment.
It’s empowering how changing one’s perspective can change a person’s life! And I love the way Amy talks about looking at difficult life events and changes as blessings instead of hardship.
I have started living my life more in tune with what Amy speaks about and am finding that when you do so; hardships become lessons, challenges become inspiration.
Thank you for sharing this talk Mary.
That’s beautiful, Vishnu: “hardships become lessons, challenges become inspiration.”
Thanks for sharing!
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Great Video! Thanks for sharing
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Like Rocky said in Rocky Balboa,
“It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. It’s about how much you can take and keep moving forward.”
Always motivates me to go the distance.
Tears! Our obstacles are often so small in comparison yet we make them so huge. This is the perfect medicine to cut our obstacles down to size.
Truly an inspiration. Sometimes it can be tough to overcome a chalenge, but once you do it molds you into who you are today.
First time finding this blog, love it and will be back!
When encountering an obstacle, remind yourself that obstacles are not your enemies. Instead they are your teachers ..
Thank you so much for this great inspirational article.
I love how she talked about the choice with our obstacles
Her story is so incredible. It proves once again that life without challenges leads us to live without meaning, at least it’s harder to find that meaning.
I’m always wondering how people will enjoy life when the trend is people do less and technology will do it for you. Where we will take our experience from?
Honestly, I want to have challenges in life. I will not always choose the easiest way to go, so to let the little joys impact my life.
yes i do believe indeed esp according to my personal exp ^^
Am encouraged to face my fears head on.Disability is not impossibility
Obstacles are stepping stone to greater height.
very motivating & challenging story briefly wonderful & inspirational
a friend recommend this to me, glad he did
Such a great video and inspiring story of overcoming adversity and really making the best of a difficult situation. It’s definitely not always easy to see the bright site when you’re in the middle of things, but by keeping these types of stories fresh in our minds, hopefully it can help to inspire others!
I’m recommended this website via my personal nephew. My business is do not specified when it article can be provided by him or her seeing that who else understand these kinds of distinctive in relation to my problem. You might be wonderful! Thank you!
We need inspiration to draw a little strength to face the challenges of our lives. Hearing stories of other people’s problems and how they coped with incredible hardships can really help us to put our own lives into perspective.