I want to start this by proclaiming that there is nothing special about me. I am a regular human being, who’s lived a fairly regular life. Only my regular life took a substantial turn back in 2016 when I was attacked by a shark while surfing one of my favourite beaches in the world. This irregular occurrence triggered a series of decisions and actions in my life that have eventually led me onto a completely different path, one that I never saw myself walking and I wanted to speak to what that journey has been like for me.
Mentioning a shark attack with no recount of the experience is a dangerous proposition as I’ve found people have a thousand immediate questions running through their mind and that can distract from what I really want to talk about so let me help you out a bit; Firstly, it didn’t hurt. Secondly, it was a 2.5-3 metre Bull Shark (sorry to disappoint on the size, it’s not Jaws). And thirdly, I do still surf today.
The journey between losing three quarters of your left quad muscle, followed by being told you won’t walk or surf again and a full recovery is an extremely difficult and bumpy path to navigate and this is where I have a chance to bring you back to the point that I’m just a regular person again. When people see me walking again, running marathons and surfing again they often think of this superhuman who’s defied all of the odds to prove the doctors wrong and this perspective has always left me feeling slightly awkward.
I’ve always looked at decisions in life as a set of scales. The desire or want to do something occurs when that desire outweighs its opposite. Confusing wording I know, but I’ll give you a simple example. I’m currently writing this while sitting in a cafe enjoying a beautiful coffee.
So beautiful that I’m considering ordering a second. I currently have a decision to make, on one side of the scales I get to enjoy another delicious coffee, on the other are the effects of that coffee and the difficulties I may have thinking and typing properly afterwards, not to mention it’s probably an extra couple of dollars I could save and spend on something else. Which side weighs heavier? Let me tell you, I love coffee! And it was a pretty damn good coffee at that. I can easily see that ordering a second coffee is most likely going to outweigh the negatives the other side has to offer.
Let’s now go back to 2016 where I’m faced with another decision. One one side of the scales are all of the things that the doctors are telling me about what to expect in my future, a very very bleak outlook with not much to look forward to. On the other is an opportunity to prove them wrong, to try my best to regain as much as I can of what’s been lost.
This isn’t a decision I make just once as I’m laying in a hospital bed, this is a decision I have to make every single day. During a recovery there are so many days when you wake up asking yourself what’s the point? Will going to physiotherapy today make that much of a difference? There are so many doubts that you need to confront and overcome in order to get to where you eventually want to go and to be able to do this you need to ask yourself which side of the scales weigh heavier.
Now where are we today? It’s nearly 7 years after the day my life changed forever and I’ve accomplished so much not only physically, but mentally as well. One of the biggest mental challenges I overcome is the ability to share my story openly and honestly in public settings through speaking, podcasting, writing articles like this and even a documentary.
This doesn’t come natural to me at all. I’ve always been shy, I’ve never liked being the centre of attention and I’m certainly not amazing in social settings but the reason I do it all is because of those scales I’ve spoken so much about. From the first time I shared my story, I realized I had something spectacular that could engage and interest people even if they weren’t surfers or ocean goers and I decided that I wanted to use this story in order to help others as best as I can. That purpose is now so significant and heavy that it can outweigh almost any negative that’s associated with stepping outside of my comfort zone.
But I’m not special.
I opened this article by saying I was a regular human for a reason. Each and every one of us have decisions to make every single day that cause us to look at our own scales whether we know it or not. Sometimes it helps to know why we’re making certain decisions that are taking us towards our goals and our dreams. If you’re consistently making these positive decisions whether it’s to go to the gym, work on your business or leave work early to spend time with the family, we know we’re making them for the right reasons.
And if we find ourselves taking the opposite side of the scales which may be hindering us or holding us back we need to ask what we can do to change the picture. How can we shift the weight to the correct side before it’s too late because it will happen eventually. There’s nothing wrong with hitting rock bottom if it causes us to make a change. I did it, that’s what caused me to make a full recovery, but it was because I didn’t see myself as having another option.
This is all about being self aware, proactive and overall, positive in the way we make decisions in life. I unfortunately don’t have the answers to everyone’s problems because they’re all individual to them but what I do have is experience and perspective. Trust me when I say that we’ve all been through our own version of a shark attack and if we can look at our own situations objectively and use our own experiences and inspiration we can start to see the world a little differently. The reason I didn’t share much about the shark attack is because I believe that it’s not about what happens to you, but how you respond is truly a mark of a human and their resilience.