The name of my new inspirational figure is Victor and he's five years old. I read about him in a blog post written by his mother on the heath and medical blog KevinMD.com. Victor was born prematurely and has cerebral palsy, which has left him with what his mother describes as "a twisted right side." His condition hasn't stopped him from doing all the active things other children do though. He has the perfect excuse to lie around, ask other people to do things for him, and sit on the side-lines reading a book, but he doesn't. Instead, he works and works at resisting the limitations his body tries to impose on him so that he can live the life he wants.
Says his mother in her blog post:
However, what really separates Victor from almost everyone else is his sheer determination. He doesn’t understand “can’t,” only “try harder.” And so he will practice and practice and practice, long after I can feign interest in continuing. His doctors and therapists shake their heads and smile in disbelief at his progress, but the credit lies with Victor. In the beginning, I helped out a lot more, but now he only allows me to show him once and then he will take it from there, thank you very much.She goes on to say:
I often wonder if Victor knows he is different, although, thanks to his absolute persistence, what physically separates him from his peers is getting increasingly harder for the untrained eye to see. Is his tenacity a reflection of his stubborn personality (no idea where that came from) or does it derive from his own observation of his limitations? Regardless, when Victor decides that he will do something, he simply does not give up until he has mastered the task or at least achieved a close semblance.To illustrate Victor's tenacity, Victor's mother recounts how he spent hours and hours practicing jumping and landing steady on both feet so he could play leapfrog with the other kids. Later, he wanted to be able to play hopscotch, which meant hours of hopping and falling in their house until he got it right--which he did.
Reading about this small boy's persistence makes it hard for me to justify not pursuing my own fitness dreams whole-heartedly. Sure, I'm uncoordinated and inflexible, but my body is healthy and perfectly formed. Saying, "A century (100 miles on the bike) is too far for me" or "My body just isn't suited for that Pilates move" just doesn't cut it. Many would say that Victor's body, with his weakened right side, isn't suited to run or play hopscotch or leapfrog, yet he's managed to do all these things, and do them well, because he first believes he can and then works at it until it's true.
I might never be a professional athlete, but that doesn't mean I can't become faster, stronger, and fitter. I've already done things I never thought I'd be able to do physically, which just goes to show that my body doesn't know everything. I intend to keep proving it wrong.
To read the full text of Victor's mother's blog post, click this link.