My Story - Introduction

Lance Armstrong said: 'pain is only temporary but quitting lasts forever'. The man was onto something! Whilst this has not at all been a principle of my being, its safe to say that it is a statement I agree with, when used in the right context and within the right situations. But I suppose this is true to many such statements and quotes.

In 1999 Lance Armstrong tested positive for well advanced testicular cancer that had spread throughout his body including his lungs. His ‘world’ was literally turned upside down, with no realistic hope of things coming ‘right’. Death was knocking and seemed inevitable. The team he was racing for cancelled his contract, stopped paying him and world stopped believing. No-one thought he would or could recover.

Making a long complicated story, short and digestible, he miraculously survived risky treatments and recovered, found a new team and after two years of extensive training went on to become a record breaker, record holder, and an all time athletic champion. 'Without cancer, I never would have won a single Tour de France. Cancer taught me a plan for more purposeful living, and that in turn taught me how to train and to win more purposefully, It taught me that pain has a reason, and that sometimes the experience of losing things–whether health or a car or an old sense of self–has its own value in the scheme of life. Pain and loss are great enhancers', were his words.
His story is truly remarkable, and though I question his use of the word ‘purposeful’, which I appreciate is individually subjective, it is very inspiring. My story is not of the same depth, is not as exciting and I don’t think it hardly inspiring. In fact to use Lance Armstrong’s story as a backdrop for my own is quite audacious, as to my knowledge I have not nearly experienced death and had my ‘world’ turned upside down.

What links my story, Mr Armstrong's story, and the story of many other people together is the challenges we face in this adventure we call life. ‘Life is an adventure my friends. One moment you are basked with sunlight, shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when the storm hits.’ – I am unsure who said this, but I like it. For some, the storm is working 2 or 3 jobs to pay the bills and still not making it; it’s working hard and late to support your family at the cost of not seeing them; it’s the death of a loved one; its falling in love with your friend and not being able to tell him/her; it’s losing your dreams, health or hope; it’s being faced with temptation and battling your way out of giving in; its being trapped in a life and habit of sin – wanting but unable to find a way out; it’s pride; it’s lust; it’s questioning your faith and value. These are all very different and all very real, each having distinct effect(s) and consequences, by no means defining us, but affecting the people or the sort of person we will become.

This is an introduction… more will follow.

This is only the beginning and is to be continued..