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Of all the amazing folks I've come across in running DarynKagan.com, mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer is one of the most inspirational. Easy to throw the "inspirational" word aroud here quite a bit. With Erik, I mean he inspires me to grow and think about things differently.
I featured him a few months ago when his book, The Adversity Advantage, came out. You can still catch that story here on DarynKagan.com.
Erik's basic premise is that adversity and obstacles are not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, he sees them as a gift. That, without those challenges and those invitations to grow, greatness is almost impossible. Hence, The Adversity Advantage.
This thinking comes from a guy who truly walks the walk, or rather, climbs the climb. Erik has been blind since his early teens. As one of the most accomplished mountain climbers in the world, he's also scaled the world's tallest peeks.
He knows how the outdoors has enhanced his life. That's why he's part of No Barriers, a group dedicated to enhancing the lives and experiences of those with disabilities.
600 participants gathered in Squaw Valley, California earlier this summer. It was an unprecedented opportunity for technology designers and disabled folks to meet and help each other achieve their best.
Erik said something quite daring in his interview from Squaw Valley, it comes in his answer to the question, "What are your hopes for this festival?"
"A lot of people here, they've been broken, they've been hurt, they're lives have been shattered. It's my hope, maybe it's kind of secret hope, that people don't use this festival just to persevere, but to actually figure out what they need to do in their lives to actually take the next step which is to flourish. To actually do something great with their lives. To do something greater than they might've if they had never faced those challenges to begin with."
It's that last line that gets me--"To do something greater than they might've, if they had never faced those challenges to begin with."
Talk about turning an attitude upside down! What if that bad thing that happened to any of us didn't make us a victim? Rather, it was our invitation to step through the door of greatness?
I know it's something I'll be thinking about today. How about you? When people like Erik cross my path, I realize there really are no barriers to how far we can expand our minds.
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