I recently witnessed something extraordinarily inspiring that I wanted to share with you.
If you have ever said to yourself or someone else, “that’s impossible?” Than this will help you create a new model of possibility.
Having been part of several powerful team building and leadership trainings, I have had many opportunities to participate in some very challenging ropes course activities and have witnessed countless breakthroughs as a result.
On this particular occasion the course included what is known as the “leap of faith” which involves climbing 50 feet up a narrow telephone pole, having to pull yourself up and stand on the 12 inch top than leap between 5 and 8 feet to a free floating trapeze bar. It is an achievement that would be difficult for even a seasoned circus performer.
Many members of our team including myself were able to scale the daunting pole and successfully fly through the air and grab the trapeze bar which appeared to be more like 20 feet away… and some were not as successful.
The last person to go was a woman who while watching the challenge being successfully accomplished by many of her team mates kept repeating to herself, “this is impossible, I can’t do it.”
We all felt fear but she had massive anxiety about the task… and with good reason. On top of the fact that she had not exercised for years and had allowed herself to gain a massive amount of unhealthy weight (she was well over 300 lbs) she has also lived with a terrifying fear of heights all her life.
With the encouragement of her team mates she ultimately made the decision to give it a try. It was amazing. She struggled for almost 20 minutes to get to the top…all the while her team members shouting and encouraging her to not give up. I had been to the top and I knew how difficult it was to reach and how scary it was to jump. Watching her struggle with tears in her eyes I wanted to tell her that it was OK and that she could just come on back down. I knew however what she would lose if she did. So instead I joined my teammates in yelling, “You can do it! Just one more step– four more inches.”
I thought of everyone who is facing an impossible challenge and the challenge you face and how you are facing it head on and will not allow yourself to quit.
I know she thought about doing just that… quitting, giving up.
Instead she fought for every inch; pole wobbling, arms and legs trembling she took that painfully difficult final step and stood upright on the very top of the pole now some 55 plus feet in the sky.
We had just witnessed the impossible and as a result spontaneously erupted into a mass cheer that must have been heard for miles. Then there was silence. As she stood arms stretched out looking out at the trapeze bar some five feet away my throat tightened and tears came rolling down my face. My climbing to the top and finally jumping was indeed powerful and gutsy but this woman was no Mr. America– she was not an athlete and she was deathly afraid.
Somehow she not only found the super human physical strength but also the will, determination, and COURAGE to climb to the top. When she finally jumped (supported by a bolle wire) it was like time stood still and we all stopped breathing for that moment.
When she was finally lowered to the ground she was greeted by of some 25 cheering, screaming, and crying, friends and teammates I had to give her a big hug and thank her for what she did for me and the rest of us and for having the courage to reach well beyond her perceived limitations.
She told me that she could not have done it without the encouragement of her team and our belief that she could do it. Although she was ultimately not able to hold on to the trapeze bar, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was able to overcome her fears and limiting beliefs about what she could and couldn’t do and that she touched what was at one time believed to be impossible to reach.
I have no doubt that she, like you, will be successful at achieving her ultimate goal no matter what it may be.
I’m proud to be on your team… who else is on your team? Who else have you enlisted? Let other people you trust and who care about you share in your success… let them be inspired at knowing you did it and that they, in some small or large way helped you achieve it.
Can I just say what a relief to find someone who actually knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You definitely know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people need to read this and understand this side of the story. I cant believe youre not more popular because you definitely have the gift.
When you have a team – even if it’s only a support team you add the additional motivation and incentive you may need to take the leap of faith. And quite often others will expect more from us than we do from ourselves.
Tom this is a great story!!
Just goes to prove that when you have an awesome team behind and in front of you…a person can truly accomplish anything!
Thanks for sharing
i started reading positive notes from Joe Weider back in the 60s…i consider myself to be pretty positive and maybe somewhat insensitive to others challenges…my brother now lives with me after having his right leg ampuated below the knee due to diabetes and many bad life choices…he is very negative and even tried twice to kill himself…now he just talked himself out of a prosthesis telling the rehab doctor that he is not capable of going back to work even if he had the prosthesis…now we will need to find other funding to take care of it…i try to inspire him by always coming up with positive thoughts and possible solutions but he never believes a word of it…do you have any suggestions? thanks and God bless you and all you are doing for so many.
Wow! I can’t believe this! I’m inspired, it’s time for me to accept the challenge and climb to the top too! I’m so self-conscious about my dreams and my goals lately that I can no longer be happy until I see myself reaching them, my desire to become that person that I want to be is becoming an obsession, I must do it!
Jim,
I sympathize with your plight as well as your brothers misfortune. it sounds however like your brothers focus has been on himself for far to long. One of the basic human needs and a driving force for many people is need to feel significant. There are many ways of attracting attention from others in order to satisfy that need. His negative choices as you say began long before the amputation of his lower leg and may have contributed to his diabetes in the first place. Your brother has a overwhelming victim mentality and as long as it continues to serve his needs he will continue to play that role.
This is the EGO minds job… feed and protect itself. If deep below the surface your brother see’s himself as a loser, victim, failure it is likely he will continue to live that reality while still finding more and more creative ways to satisfy the ego’s need for significance.
This is a very tough situation for you to be in although you will grow as a result – however you can’t simply give up on him but you cannot also continue to feed his emotional need. If you have taken responsibility for him, provide for him and do for him many of the things he could, with some effort, do for himself, and continue to fruitlessly encourage him with motivational “bullshit” (as he may see it) you yourself may be enabling him to stay right where he is.
I would encourage you to do less for him and allow, even force him to take responsibility for his own situation and life. You don’t need to tell him “that’s it I’m done” or anything like that – just simply stop. This will require you to be stronger perhaps than you have ever been but if you truly wish to serve you brother it may be required of you. You can do this by focusing your attention and efforts on the people who not only need your help but want it.
Keep in mind that victims often become the victimize-rs. In order for that to not happen you need to make sure you do not become a victim of your brothers own self pity.
Oh, there are two other very basic human needs that can be even more powerful a driving force than significance – LOVE and the power of PRAYER… the two things you will never stop providing.