The Human Spirit

Firstly: If you haven't seen "The Martian" yet, see it ASAP. Secondly: If you have seen it, see it again! That movie has so many powerful lessons for life and although the storyline is obviously fictional, the fight of the human spirit portrayed by the actors is not. 

It shows an extreme and life threatening situation in which the person did not accept the situation and chose to fight for life. It wasn't an easy battle by any means, but the cost was well worth the reward. The reward being LIFE!

I have had a handful of life threatening situations. I don't mean that they just were considered "dangerous". I mean that I really thought I was going out. One such instance was when I was kayak surfing. I would paddle out in the ocean a ways, and either stand up or stay seated to ride the wave in to the beach. Most of the time it worked as planned, but occasionally I got off kilter and took a refreshing swim. If that happened, I swam after my kayak which usually continued on to the shore. This became frustrating so I quickly came up with a solution. I'll just use a leg-leash like legit surfers use. Good idea, right?! Kinda...I'll explain. On this one occasion; my kayak flipped, the seat became an underwater sail, and I was towed under the water for what seemed like forever! I was a very strong swimmer but still couldn't make it to the top. My lungs weren't full of air either so things weren't looking too good for me. 

After trying to reach the surface, I remember a calm and warm feeling coming over me. I was going to drowned. I gave this whole life thing my best shot. Or did I?! I decided to stick it out for just a couple seconds longer. I wasn't ready to die yet. This isn't how my story ends. Those extra few seconds were exactly what I needed. Now I was in more shallow waters. As soon as I felt the ground, I quickly gathered my strength and launched off of the sandy bottom like a rocket! I threw in a couple arm strokes and broke the surface, gasping for air. I was alive. This isn't a heroic event or as significant as being stuck on Mars, but it does hopefully show you that you are capable of more than what your brain tells you. You may just get pushed (or pulled) harder than ever before. You need to rise to the challenge. Nope...I'm not going out today. Not like this.