Inspiring resilience stories forge a path forward. Failure isn't final.
Kyle Maynard beats congenital amputation every day. He chooses inspiration to defeat impairment. Learning to dress himself was as difficult as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
In Toughness, Jay Bilas crafts a chapter about cancer patients at the Duke Cancer Institute. He tells stories not only about hope but triumph. “I believe the most important thing in any endeavor is hope. You cannot believe it is hopeless, because if you do this, it is.”
Doris Kearns Goodwin profiles four Presidents who overcame setbacks. Abraham Lincoln suffered severe melancholy throughout his life, yet became perhaps our greatest President. Teddy Roosevelt lost his mother and wife on the same day. FDR experienced a devastating paralysis yet became a beacon of hope for disabled Americans and our only disabled President. Lyndon Johnson suffered a massive heart attack shortly after becoming Senate Majority Leader. He rallied to craft important Civil Rights and social justice legislation for the elderly, poor, undereducated, and sick.
Viktor Frankl survived. He spent four years at Nazi death camps, developing important theory and practice in Psychiatry. His Man's Search for Meaning is a classic that belongs on everyone's bookshelf. “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”
In Profiles in Courage, John Kennedy chronicled Thomas Hart Benton, a slaveholding Senator from the border state, Missouri. During a thirty year Senate career, Benton navigated a course between abolitionists and secessionists in favor of preserving the Union. He abhorred the patronage, graft, and favors of Washington. He adopted unpopular positions against the Annexation of Texas and the expansion into Oregon, opposing the expansion of slavery. Mississippi Senator Foote literally pulled a pistol on him during Senate debate, to which he opened his coat saying, "I have no pistol! Let him fire! Let the assassin fire!" Ultimately, the first Senator to serve thirty consecutive years lost his Senate seat because he was unwilling to abandon the Union. "I cannot do anything to dissolve this Union, or to array one-half of it against the other." He ultimately died without wealth, a broken man from cancer, but with principles and loyalty to the Union intact.
John Maxwell's Failing Forward chronicles a myriad of failures turned into success. He shares a story about almost hitting Arnold Palmer on the golf course. And he reminds us that even iconic players struggle.
Palmer took a TWELVE on the ninth hole of the Rancho Park golf course. His reward was this "doggone plaque."
Don Meyer's recruiting trip ended in a catastrophic car crash. Falling asleep while driving, Meyer's recovery was miraculous, but also revealed an internal cancer. The coach with 923 wins earned his greatest victory by returning from both crash and cancer. Meyer's approach was consistent. "He challenged them to be disciplined, to be better, to demand more from themselves and from their teammates, to focus. He challenged them to be tougher, keeping a stash of walnuts -- with their almost impenetrable shells -- in his office to hand out when he wanted to make a point."
Everyone struggles. Everyone fails. Some optimists have the will and the skill to overcome.
Lagniappe: Do not quit.
Lagniappe 2: Understand basketball symmetry. Force offenses whenever possible to the corners (help from baseline and sideline). On offense, stay out of the corners (did anybody not see Rocky IV?).
Forcing to the corners takes away the kicks for 3s.