Amy Purdy

I just finished watching a Spiritual Cinema movie called Speed of Life. It is a documentary about Amy Purdy's life. She is a young woman who was a snowboarding champion and suddenly contracted a strange illness. None of the doctors knew what it was and her mother was told her daughter had a 3% chance of surviving. Her body parts turned purple. Amy remembers leaving her body and then realizing she was dying and wasn't done. She screamed " No" and was whoshed back into her body. She had both of her legs amputated. What was so inspiring was her attitude. She said that she doesn't think of herself as disabled but rather as adaptive. She thinks of herself as adaptive because losing her legs proved to her she could adapt to anything. Five months after her surgery she was back on her snowboard using her prostheses. She met her boyfriend snowboarding and together they created Adaptive Athletes, their organization to teach athletes with challenges to snow board. Amy has a vision of supporting people in moving beyond their limitations to be able to do what they want to do. Her vision is well on its way. She has moved beyond what would be insurmountable challenges for some people. Amy showed the viewers her two pairs of legs. What she calls her pretty legs which look like regular legs and even have veins and wrinkles and red painted toenails. She said she is uncomfortable in her pretty legs because she doesn't feel like herself. She is more comfortable in her titanium legs which she said are different and feel more real to her. What a powerful young woman.
She sees what some might see as limitations, not as limitations but rather as an opportunity to do what she came here to do. It motivated me to look at my hearing loss in that light. How is my difficulty hearing enabling me to do what I came here to do? I have learned to listen more deeply and to be more present than a nomal hearing person. Also my inner hearing has developed to balance my challenges with outer hearing. It is part of what makes me a skilled counselor. I want to remember this in the midst of my next bout of frustration. Often I do. What is a challenge of yours that you could see as an opportunity to do what you came here to do? It is important to have our feelings and not judge ourselves. Sometimes I am very sad, or mad or scared about my hearing. I don't have to like it. I only have to accept it as what is.
Amy Purdy went farther. Not only accepting what is but celebrating what is and who she is. I am grateful to her for being on the planet and for doing the good work she is doing. Tonight I am also grateful for her inspiration to be all that I can be.