“If your life was a book and you were the author, how would you want your story to go?”
– Amy Purdy –
I stumbled across the most beautiful TED talk this morning thanks to You Tube suggesting it to me after having watched Shaun Anchor’s talk on The Happiness Advantage for the umpteenth time (it’s SO awesome!).
Amy, a keen snowboarder and lover of life and travel, sadly lost both of her legs below the knee at the age of 19. However, her story is not that of sorrow or sadness, but one rather of a celebration of what happened and how it forced her to push through the boundaries and limitations in front of her. And most importantly, her choice of embracing the magic of her imagination to create the kind of life she wanted to live.
She didn’t allow herself to be held back by anything in her quest to get back on her board, and after years of rehabilitation, hard work, effort and sheer perseverance, she became the top ranked adaptive female snowboarder in the world. And rather than be held back by the seeming limits of having lost both of her legs, she used these as a jumping off point to transcend them.
She also now spends a great deal of time helping others, especially those with physical challenges get involved with adventure sports like snowboarding, skateboarding and wakeboarding. And she has set up a Not for Profit organisation called Adaptive Action Sports.
The beauty of this story is that Amy is has not only challenged herself to be able to continue to do what she truly loves, but she has made a wonderfully positive impact on the world at the same time.
So the question for you today is, what boarders do you need to push off of in order to ensure that the story of your life goes the positive way you wish it to go?
Inspiration for today’s post
TEDx talk – Amy Purdy – Living Beyond Limits
Kat Kinnie's Blog 