Overcoming Adversity: Philippe Croizon to Swim across the English Channel with no Arms or Legs
A trait that most athletes share is the fact that all of them have great reserves of determination, power and strength of character. A lot of them overcome serious adversity to reach the top of their sport. A very similar individual is trying to overcome serious adversity and achieve a goal of his own. A Frenchman by the name of Philippe Croizon will attempt to swim across the English Channel. Now this is no amazing feat, many have done it in the past but something about Philippe is different; he lost both of his arms and his legs in an accident.
Having lost both of his arms and both of his legs makes swimming across the 22 miles of the English Channel extremely difficult. But this man is determined to overcome his handicap condition and become the first man ever to accomplish the feat. “Philippe Croizon will instantly earn himself a place in the record books if his 22 miles crossing is successful. He has flippers connected to his specially designed swimsuit and an extra long snorkel that runs straight up between his eyes,” The article goes on to say that the most amazing thing about this whole episode is that 2 years ago the Frenchman could not even swim 2 lengths of a swimming pool. To go from that to swim across the English Channel which will take him 24 hours to complete is mind boggling. This just shows the power of the human heart and the mind to overcome even the worst handicap to go on to do great things.
Amazing handicapped athletes do phenomenal feats all the time. They don’t allow themselves to be beaten by a misfortune that has befallen them. Handicap basketball players are greatly skilled athletes, as are all those people who compete in the Paralympics. These are all proper athletes who are more athletic and fit than the average able bodied person. A lot of people get depressed by tragedy but these athletes show us that no matter what happens to us we can overcome it and triumph over adversity. This is probably the same motto that Philippe follows.
He refuses to be kept down and will complete his goal because he wants to do everything as he used to before the accident. Sometimes when adversity strikes, two things can happen, either a person can be defeated by it or they can rise above it. An interesting article relates what to do when faced with adversity. “You just have to understand the situation and look at it from a different perspective ... [with] Acceptance being the key. If you need to find motivation to be strong then find it in whichever means possible,”
Philippe and many other paraplegic athletes find strength in their characters and have a never say die attitude. Doing something like swimming across the English Channel will be the best thing to ever happen to Philippe and it will motivate him so much that he will stop regarding his handicap as a hindrance and learn to live with it and get on with his life. A career in swimming might be next on the Frenchman’s list of things to do.
We can all learn a very valuable lesson from Philippe’s story. Whatever adversity hits our lives we can always overcome it or we can submit to it. More people should be like Philippe and overcome adversity instead of bowing to it. This is the lesson all athletes should know, that they cannot give in to adversity, they must defeat it. That is why most do get to the top of their game and those that don’t, wither away and die. Philippe shows us that anything is possible if we just try.
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