This is taken from the March 2022 Newsletter.
Book Recommendation
A couple years back, I read a fascinating book called Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage (thank you for the recommendation Bogdan). It tells the story of Ernest Shackleton and his crew’s attempt to explore Antarctica. During this expedition, their ship – The Endurance – got stuck in the ice and ultimately sank, never to be seen again… or so we thought…
Well, earlier this year, after 107 years, it was announced that the Endurance was found! 10,000 feet below the surface of the ocean!
I highly recommend this book as it describes the extreme hardships that humans are able to endure. Every one of his crew members survived after months of fighting through cold, boredom, shelter and food issues, and just dealing with other human beings.
You can find the book here on Amazon: Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
Or most audiobook apps have the story as well.
This leads me to the words of wisdom.
Words of Wisdom
My wife teaches several different types of fitness classes every week. Her favorite discipline is the spin class (cycling in place to music). Occasionally, she is able to convince me to join her as she drags me out of the house to go exercise.
A while back, she and I took a class from a different instructor. As I’m pedaling away, pretending like I am totally fine while trying to hide the fact that I’m crying on the inside because my legs are burning and I can’t breathe, the instructor said something that stuck with me.
She told all of us riders to focus our minds on taking a bigger-picture view of what was going on right then, in that moment, as our bodies were fighting our minds. She told us to acknowledge the trials we’ve had in our life, and recognize that we have overcome every single one of them.
100%! A perfect record!
There is not a single obstacle, hurdle, tragedy, or hardship that you have not scratched, clawed, and fought your way through, making it out to the other side each and every time.
Of course, we have bumps, bruises, and scars – some of them deep. But you, me, and whoever else is reading this have overcome 100% of what life has thrown at us so far. And that’s pretty cool!
So, whether you are stranded in the middle of Antarctica and your only means of getting home just sunk, never to be seen again for 107 years… or your body is turning against you and can’t do what it used to… or you’ve lost a loved one… remember, you are strong, you are tough, and you not only can, but you will get through this.
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Erik Soderborg 