Stop, look and listen.

Shooting Blind from UWE Bristol Media Practice on Vimeo.

A few days ago I chanced upon a documentary about the Paralympics. How the English athletes were preparing for their moment of glory and triumph. Thing is, for me they are winning everyday. One of these athletes is Elizabeth Johnson. Seen here in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic games.

 Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images AsiaPac)

Looking at her, she's a happy kid. Flashing her smile and her gold medal. See her swim and you would see that she doesn't have the usual stroke. Thing is, she has Cerebral Palsy. Our friend wiki defines CP as: Cerebral palsy (CP) is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive,^[1][2] non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement


In one of the scenes in the documentary we see her trying so hard to pick up a pen. For most of the population, picking up a pen requires no thought at all and its just a matter of seeing it and taking it. 
But for her, it requires an intense amount of focus and determination. In the same documentary, there's a part of it about the England Blind Football team that competed in the 2010 cup. I never knew there was even such a team much less a league. 


What I learned from these athletes is that getting up is winning. I learned to value what I can do even more. I learned that trying things is a victory in itself. I read that Nietzsche had this term "Self mastery". He says that we owe it to ourselves to know every bit of ourselves.