How Bad Is It? ... Really

I was going through some notes from a conference I was at back in May. One of the speakers was Alan Hobson. The only word to describe his keynote is WOW!

How many times have we thought we were getting a raw deal? How many times have we thought "why is this happening to me?".

Here's part of Mr. Hobson's "resume":

Mt. Everest - almost
Mt. Everest - almost #2
Cancer diagnosis
Cancer survivor
Cancer ass-kicker
Mt. Everest - SUCCESS!

Mr Hobson spoke about his experience of not once, but twice being stopped by circumstances as he closed in on the summit of Everest, his bout with cancer of the blood and then conquering not only the cancer and Everest, but also how he is pioneering new ideas about the treatment of cancer through physical activity and fitness.

The man had biceps that were the envy of every guy in the room - some of which were obviously lifting to keep fit. He had an air of confidence that rivaled the expanse of Everest itself. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room of about 2000 people when he was talking to us about "failure". He was all about turning a missed opportunity into something more and then doing something about it.

Truly inspiring to see his story. He talked about his training for his third ascent of Everest and had a picture of himself on a treadmill - he didn't weigh more than 150 pounds and he had this picture of him working on this treadmill with what had to be at least an 80 pound pack at the steepest incline possible. He said that with each pair of steps he'd take, he would repeat the same two words, over and over - CAN - WILL; CAN - WILL...

I certainly don't do it justice here, but he was an amazing person to see and hear. If anyone has the chance to see him, enjoy - if you can't, look for his book called From Everest to Enlightenment

I haven't read it yet myself, but plan to this summer. If anyone's read it already, please share what you thought. Also, check out his web site http://www.climbback.com

And as I found out today on his web site, his encore is planned. How can you top all he's done so far? How about a return to Everest?!?! See the link below for details:

http://www.climbback.com/assets/pdf/EverestRocksFastFacts.pdf

Next time you think you might be having a bad day, think about Alan Hobson who probably had more bad days than most people who will read this post combined (and then some).

How bad is it? - REALLY