I had the privilege of attending a convention where Aron Ralston spoke about a month ago. For those of you who don’t know Aron, he is the guy that while canyoneering alone in Southern Utah had an accident and ended up with his right arm smashed/trapped under a huge boulder. He was trapped for 5 days and 7 hours and was completely isolated. After days of suffering through freezing nights, lack of food and water, and no other solution out from under the rock he used a dull, cheap pocket knife to cut off his own arm. What a stud. Now he shares the lessons he learned from his experience to bless and inspire.
We all experience bondage. Like Aron, we all have boulders we get trapped under throughout our lives. It may be health issues, finances, someone else’s behavior, addiction, bad haircut, depression, death, self-doubt, negative thinking, confusion, or divorce. Like Aron, we all have stuff that keeps us stuck. In order to move forward we must get free from our boulders by “amputating” something just as he did. Maybe it’s a person or a belief. Perhaps we need to leave behind our pride and need to control. In order to be freed from our boulders we must be willing to “cut off our own arm.” Yes it is painful, but like Aron said “the pain was irrelevant. The pain was not going to kill me.” The pain of your current boulder, no matter how heart wrenching and all consuming, and the pain of “cutting off your arm” is not going to be what kills you. It will be the bitterness from your inability to let go of anger, pride, resentment, or the need to be right. It will be your lack of understanding, forgiveness, or patience that destroys you.
Aron preached that, “Our boulders are our greatest blessings because they show us what is really important.” Does that mean we love our boulders and want to marry them….? Not exactly, but getting to a place, regardless of how brief or small, of gratitude for our boulders can go a long way in helping us to break free of them. When Aron got discouraged during those long hours of misery he would turn on his video camera and start thanking people. Gratitude kept him going.
Trusting Aron that, “Your challenges are your greatest gifts,” and that these, “rocks become your agent of opportunity,” will completely reframe your frustrating circumstances. Although anger, sadness, and confusion may still be alive and well you’ll begin to see a small glimmer of hope.
You want to know what Aron feels now about his “boulder”? It’s not anger. It’s gratitude. That boulder gave him his life back. He lives differently now than he did before. He is a new person. We too can become new people as we conquer our boulders by doing the only thing we can do, cut off our imperfections. Aron’s hand was smashed, it was mangled. It had served its purpose. He left something behind that day but he didn’t lose anything.
So it is my prayer this month of November that we will find gratitude for our past and present boulders.
Why carve a turkey when you can carve your arm…?
(Hypothetically speaking of course)
Nancy
Nancy Rae Allen
Nancy Rae Allen is a motivational speaker, philanthropist, and dream broker. She lives to inspire, empower, and lift all those she meets. Her goal in life is to make one new friend, learn one new thing, and serve one new person every day.
Nancy played 3 years of college basketball, got knocked up by her handsome husband and had to bow out of her last season as a college athlete. When Nancy was 11 her world was turned upside when she discovered her dad, aka her knight in shining armor, had a serious sexual addiction that resulted in multiple affairs and an eventual divorce. Before Nancy’s senior year of high school her best friend got pregnant with her alcoholic brother’s baby. Nancy has been surrounded by severe, heart-breaking addictions all her life and as a result has been groomed, and continues to be groomed into the woman Heavenly Father designed her to be.
Nancy enjoys reading and writing poetry, streaking (aka being a mother, you’d have to be crazy to do either one, they both make you vulnerable, and you always end up looking stupid), people watching, sassing her husband, meeting new people, studying culture, public speaking, guessing games, catching food in her mouth, being spontaneous, and eating jalapeño yogurt dip from Costco.
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