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Life Without Limits
Imagine being born without arms. No arms to wrap around someone, no hands to experience touch, or to hold another hand with. Or what about being born without legs? Having no ability to dance, walk, run, or even stand on two feet. Now put both of those scenarios together: no arms and no legs. What would you do? How would that effect your everyday life?
Born in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia, without any medical explanation or warning, Nicholas Vujicic came into the world with neither arms nor legs. Having had an uneventful pregnancy and no family history to expect this condition, imagine the shock his parents felt when they saw their first born, brand new baby boy, only to find he was what the world would consider imperfect and abnormal. How would their son live a normal happy life? What could he ever do or become when living with what the world would see as such a massive disability? Little did they or anyone know that this beautiful limbless baby would one day be someone who would inspire and motivate people from all walks of life, touching lives all over the world.
As Nick grew up he learned to deal with his disability and started to be able to do more and more things on his own. He adapted to his situation and found ways to accomplish tasks that most people could only do by using their limbs, such as cleaning teeth, brushing hair, typing on a computer, swimming, playing sports, and much more. As time went by, Nick began to embrace his situation and achieve greater things. In grade seven Nick was elected captain of his school and worked with the student council on various fund-raising events for local charities and disability campaigns.
After school Nick went on with further study and obtained a double bachelor degree majoring in accounting and financial planning. By the age of 19, Nick started to fulfill his dream of encouraging others by sharing his story through motivational speaking. He found the purpose of his existence, and also the purpose of his circumstance. Nick wholeheartedly believes that there is a purpose in each of the struggles we encounter in our lives and that our attitude towards those struggles can be the single most effective factor in overcoming them.
Now at 27 years old, this limbless young man has accomplished more than most people even twice his age. Nick recently made the massive move from Brisbane, Australia to California, USA, where he is the president of an international non-profit organization, and also has his own motivational speaking company, Attitude Is Altitude. Since his first motivational speaking engagement back when he was 19, Nick has traveled around the world, sharing his story with millions of people, speaking to a range of different groups such as students, teachers, youth, business men and women, entrepreneurs, and church congregations of all sizes. People ask Nick, "How can you smile?" Then they realize there's got to be something more to life than meets the eye if a guy without arms and legs is living a fuller life.
Nick shares with his audiences the importance of vision and dreaming big. Using his own experiences in worldwide outreach as examples, he challenges others to examine their perspective and look beyond their circumstances. He shares his view of ceasing to see obstacles as problems, but instead begin to see them as opportunities to grow and reach out to others. He stresses the importance of our attitude being the most powerful tool we have at our disposal and illustrates how the choices we make can have a profound effect on our lives and the lives of those around us. Nick shows through his own life that the major keys in fulfilling our biggest dreams are persistence and choosing to embrace failure as a learning experience, rather than allowing the guilt and fear of failure to paralyze us.
How does Nick Vujicic feel about his disability now? He accepts it, embraces it and oftentimes pokes fun at his own circumstance as he shows off his many tricks. He meets challenges with his special blend of humor, perseverance and faith, always encouraging those around him to examine their perspective as they develop and define their vision. Using those new definitions he challenges each person he meets to make changes in their lives so that they can begin the path to fulfilling their biggest dreams. Through his amazing ability to connect with people from all walks of life and his incredible sense of humor that captivates children, teens and adults alike, Nick is a truly inspirational motivational speaker.
参考翻译:
没有限制的生活
请设想从一出生就没有手臂,没有手臂去拥抱别人,没有双手去体验触摸,也不可以去牵手。从一出生就没有双腿又会是怎样的呢?不可以跳舞、走路、跑步,甚至仅仅是靠双脚站立都不可以。现在把这些假设的场
面放在一起既没有双臂也没有双腿。你会怎么做呢?这将对你每天的生活带来怎样的影响?
尼克胡哲,1982年出生于澳大利亚的墨尔本,没有任何医学方面的解释或警告,没有双手双腿的他来到这个世界。在经历了一段平静无事的孕期,并且在没有任何家族病史预示的情况下,我们可以想象当时他的父母看到他们的头生子,这个刚出生的小男孩时会是多么的震惊,只知道他就是世人所认为的有缺陷和不正常。他们的儿子怎样才能过上正常并快乐的生活?当他生活在世人都认为他是巨大残疾的世界中时,他该做些什么或是该成为怎样的人呢?当时他们不知道而且也没有任何一个人知道,就是这样一个漂亮的、没有四肢的婴儿会在未来的某一天启发和激励社会各个阶层的人,并且感动全世界的人们。
在尼克的成长过程中,他学会了怎样应付自身的不足而且开始自己做越来越多的事情。他开始适应他的情况,找到方法完成其他人仅需用四肢就可以完成的事情,比如刷牙、洗头、在电脑上打字、游泳、做运动,以及其他更多的事情。随着时间的推移,尼克开始乐观接受自己的处境,并完成更伟大的事情。在七年级的时候,他被选为学校的主席,与学生会一起工作,处理地方慈善机构和残疾运动的各种募捐集资活动。
毕业之后,尼克继续学习深造,他取得了会计和金融企划的双学士学位。19 岁的时候,尼克开始实践他的梦想,通过鼓舞人心的演讲讲述他自己的故事从而激励他人,并带给他们希望。他找到了他存在的目的,那也是他自身情况的目的。尼克全心全意地相信在我们的生活中所遇到的任何我们努力奋斗的困厄都有一个目的,而且我们面对这些事情的态度就是可以战胜它们的唯一有效因素。
如今,这个27岁的无四肢的年轻人所完成的事情要比很多年龄是他两倍的人还多。尼克最近从澳大利亚的布里斯班大举搬迁到美国的加利福尼亚,在那儿,他成为了一家国际非营利性组织的主席,他还拥有了自己的激励演讲公司:态度就是高度。从他19岁第一次演讲开始,尼克已经周游了世界、和数百万人分享了他的故事,向不同的社会群体演说,比如学生、教师、青年、商人、企业家和各种大小的教堂集会。人们问尼克: “你怎么能笑得出来呢?”接着他们意识到,如果一个没有四肢的人过得比普通人更充实,那么生活的含义必定超出了我们目光所及的范畴。
尼克与他的听众分享拥有愿景与远大梦想的重要性,把他在世界各地的经历作为例子,他挑战别人,检视对于个人现状的观点和视角。他与大家一起分享停止把肢体残障看作是困难,相反的,他开始视他们为使自已成长和接触他人的机遇。他强调态度是我们可以支配的最强大的工具,阐明了我们所作出的选择如何对我们自身乃至周围人的生活产生深远的影响。尼克用他的人生经历来告诉我们实现远大理想的关键就是坚持不懈和选择拥抱失败,把它看作是一次学习的机会,而非容忍失败带来的内疚和恐惧使我们瘫痪、麻痹。
现在,尼克对他自身的残疾会有什么感觉呢?他接受并且拥抱它,有时,当他展示那些“小把戏”时,他还会拿自己的残疾开玩笑。他用其特有的幽默、毅力和信念来面对挑战,深深鼓舞他身边那些要发展或定义自己的观点时审视自己的观点的人。利用这些新的定义,他挑战他遇到的每一个人,让他们改变自己的生活,这样他们就可以开始实现自己最大的梦想。通过他与来自各行各业的人联系的惊人能力和他难以置信的幽默感,吸引了儿童,青少年和成年人一样,尼克是一个真正鼓舞人心的演说家。