In Good Nick

On my way home from a rather late night out, I popped in on my local kebab shop – the sort of place that you’ll never see inside in the cold light of day but strangely seems to make sense after the witching hour. Anyway, while I was queuing up I fell upon a free newspaper that I occasionally breeze through. It’s called ‘Healthy Times’ and sells itself as a local health and wellness resource and can be an interesting read. However, this month’s edition really grabbed my attention. In it there was an interview with Nick Vujicic. I vaguely remembered seeing a brief TV feature on him and such was my state of being that night (and my inability to read a full sentence) I tucked the copy into my pocket to save for later.

The following afternoon I pulled out the piece and read the interview on this amazing guy. He’s probably already fairly well known and I’m just a bit slow to the party. But for those who don’t know him, in a nutshell, Nick was born without limbs. The article captures his earliest moments: “Arriving in this world without warning of his condition or any medical explanation, his father had to leave the birthing room to vomit. The nurses on duty broke out in tears and the doctor refused to show the baby to his mother.” At the age of eight he attempted to drown himself in a bathtub.

Fast forward to the 26-year old Nick, who holds a double degree in accounting and financial planning and now travels the world as a speaker bringing hope and motivation. Without wanting to patronise or condescend, his life experience really does put some of our day-to-day moans in full-unbridled perspective. I know in the past I’ve mentioned that ‘comparison is the mother of all misery’ but you can’t but take a step back from it all and acknowledge that when looking at his battles and victories most of us have got to learn to be a bit more grateful once in a while. I could go on and on but check out www.lifewithoutlimbs.org and www.attitudeisaltitude.com/.
Inspirational – that’s all I can say really.