Potential

Potential
Watched Australian Story.  I found it really powerful.  Featured a guy who was incredibly fit.  He was a Wallaby.  The story was introduced by John Eales who counts him among his friends. 
He had a sore muscle and put it down to something he had done on the field.  It got worse and worse.  In no time the pain became unbearable and he went to hospital.  He was transferred to another hospital and his limbs were dying.  He had Sepsis.  Apparently it needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.  This goes against the grain for guys.  But the consequences of not doing it are dire.
He had both his arms and his legs amputated.  It was the only way to keep him alive.  In the space of a couple of days life changed big time for him.  He has a wife and young family.
At first he went through all it is normal to go through.  The seemingly unfairness of it all.  Anger.  Very normal reactions.
Online, they came across a guy who had been through exactly the same thing, who lived in Sydney.  They made contact with him and ended up phoning him.
I have written along these lines before, as it is important to me.  He said something I have held to big time since my stroke.  He said it was a matter of forgetting what you could do, and concentrating on what you can do.
The footballer is coming good.  It is a hard road, but his attitude is good.  He interacts with his family, takes the kids to the swings and goes for walks with them in his wheelchair.  His family loved him before, and they love him now.
It is the concentrating on what can be done I find really inspiring.  In many ways no one would blame me for shutting up shop.  For closing my door and living a locked away life.
Yet thankfully that is not what I want to do.  Ok I cannot do what I could, but I can do what I can.  And that is heaps.  Something occurred to me recently I have written and put in a picture on my wall “I am not what I was, but I have never been what I am going to be.”
I must admit it has given me a new appreciation of disabled people.  I have always been amazed how people who go through something, or some one close to them does, and they take up that cause.  I now understand why.
So often people sell themselves short – abled and disabled alike.  Things are often not so much I can’t, but I won’t.  It is no wonder it is said, “think you can, think you can’t - either way you will be right.”  Many things require more than positive thinking, but it is surprising what I can do rather than I can’t do.  I think many would be surprised what they can do.
It is easier to say than do, but I have always been a “bottom line” person.  I ask myself, “what’s the alternative?”  I can choose to wither up and die, or attempt to reach my potential.  That has always been my choice and still is.  It is what I choose.