Sometime in JSS2 or 3 I can't remember which exactly, I had a classmate Agoye Mayokun who had this particular book about a certain Bethany Hamilton who had her left arm bitten off by a shark when she was 13 years of age.
She brought this book to school almost every day and spiked a curiosity in me about the woman in the book, I remember when my birthday was approaching that year, the only solid request I had on my lips was the book about Bethany Hamilton…. That was all I wanted.
And oh did my mum search for that book! She did! Big ups to that woman for real.❤️
But she couldn't get one for me.
Well….
Such is life
I moved on past it and accepted that I probably wouldn't get the book, I hadn't thought of borrowing it from my classmate, Mayokun, I think It was around that period that she and her family relocated to Canada.
I was on my way to school on Wednesday and I randomly remembered the name of this woman whole in the bus. It was so sudden, that I tried to remember one or two things about the previous knowledge I had of her and went back to our global encyclopedia Google to search again about this woman.
An intentional nostalgic feeling.
As I searched, I read afresh about the story of this woman who is now 34 years of age, and something struck me too hard.
The morning of the Shark incident, her Father had also been scheduled for a knee surgery in the same hospital that she was rushed to and instead of her father having his surgery, she took his place in the operating room with the same doctor. At the time of getting to the hospital, she had lost about 60% of her blood.
Her survival itself is a mystery…. 60% loss of blood???
Guess who went back to surfing 26 days after the incident???? Bethany Hamilton and she was only 13 for crying out loud! How resilient was she? What manner of resilience was that??
She went back to trying out surfing, navigating how to surf with one arm only about two weeks after the incident and fully returned to professional surfing Twenty-Six days after a shark chopped off her arm (November 26, 2003) and went on to enter a major competition in January 2004 of the following year.
In the same 2004, she won an ESPY Award (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) for Best Comeback Athlete.
Surfing was her life, nothing was too mighty an excuse to interrupt her consistency. Crazy innit?
She not only surfs, she writes! Oh yes, she does. A movie adaptation was made on the experience and there's a lot more to this woman!
I have been moved and greatly challenged by her story.
Resilience
Passion
Motivation
Determination
Grit!!!!
My charge today is this
Even if it is just one thing or one area…. Just find a niche, pick up a skill, follow up on a talent you have, something you have discovered is your strength and devote time to it.
Intentionally choose to commit to one thing, just like Bethany chose to be a die-hard surfer, what are choosing to be?
You outline the path you want.
Bethany is now 34 years of age and a mother of four and yes! She still surfs.
Yes!🤭🎉🎉🎉
Bai da wae - an alternative way of saying “By the way”.
Guess who hit a hundred subscribers during the week?? Me!!!
I feel like spraying dollars on all of you for real💸💸💸💸💸💸💸 😩😩 cause how else could I have achieved this?
I'm cooking something to celebrate 100 Subscribers but I won't tell you what it is yet🤭
Fun fact: the shark that chopped off Bethany’s arm was later caught and killed that day and surfboard debris was found in its mouth matching that of Bethany.
You can decide to further read about Bethany Hamilton if you wish.
Until next week
I remain your amazing TFA💜💸
Omo 😩 talk about resilience!
Wow, so inspiring🥺