Creating Our Own Circumstances

How has your week been? I hope you are doing well. I don’t know if you have been following the Tour de France bicycle race but one of my heroes, Lance Armstrong, is about to win for the second year in a row.

Lance’s circumstances a few years ago were abysmal. Lance developed testicular cancer, which spread to his lungs and brain; his doctors gave him a 30% chance. According to Lance: "A part of me thought I was not coming back." Lance survived painful surgery; the only part of him that did not come back was 15 pounds of muscle lost to chemotherapy. Within months he was sponsoring and leading rides for his self-named foundation to raise money for cancer research. Shortly thereafter, Lance found a coach to help him challenge for the Tour de France. Lance’s coach realized that a smaller, weaker Lance Armstrong could no longer ride the traditional way of pushing big gears. Lance’s coach had him pedal at 110 revolutions per minute (RPMs) in an easier gear, which is about 30 RPMs more than cyclists using a harder gear. If you watch the Tour de France films, you can easily see that Lance is pedaling faster than the other cyclists and beating them. One of the most moving sights I have ever seen is Lance crossing the finish line and then embracing his pregnant wife (obviously Lance did not let his circumstances stop him from creating a new life).

Forget the fact that he ended up winning the race; just the fact that he was on that starting line was remarkable. Lance is a hero to me because he did not let his bad circumstances deter him from living his dream.

Many of us allow our circumstances to dictate our success in leading a healthy lifestyle. The most common reasons my clients tell me they cannot exercise or eat healthy are:

1. "I have a killer work schedule. I don’t have time to work out. If I make it to the club, I am too tired to exercise effectively."
2. "I travel constantly. There is no way I can go to a health club and workout because I am either on a plane or entertaining clients."
3. "I entertain a lot of clients at restaurants. I can’t eat healthy."
4. "My spouse/partner is not supportive of what I am trying to do."
5. "I don’t have time to exercise because I am constantly taking care of the kids."

We can go on ad infinitem with the reasons why we cannot do something and yet we limit ourselves in accepting responsibility for having control of our own life. We easily list the can’ts and shoot down the cans. Rather than taking positive action, we suffer from "paralysis by analysis."

I too suffered from this affliction for many years until my health reached a life or death situation. At 368 pounds my body was literally shutting down with every ailment you could imagine. My doctors (yes, I had several!) believed I had the beginnings of congestive heart failure. You could say that like Lance Armstrong, I did not have the best circumstances in the world. However, I realized at that moment, that I was actually in the best position possible. My health could not possibly get worse; any lifestyle changes I made could not hurt me and would likely help me. I COULD DO NO WRONG!

I used the circumstances I had and made some of my own and today I am alive and able to bring another life into the world. I am also ready, willing and able to help you bring some more life into your world.

"Circumstances? I MAKE my circumstances!!"- Napoleon Bonaparte’s response to his Army Chief of Staff’s report that they did not have the right circumstances to launch an attack.