Growing stronger from challenges

I have recently finished reading Anna Meares’s super book on her demanding but rewarding track cycling career. For me, one of the most memorable parts of the book is when Anna is starting to go through rehabilitation after her spinal fracture, and she quotes: “Things don’t go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. While they may break you down, they happen so that you can build back up again and be all that you can be.”
And it’s true.

I must admit that at the time I first read the quote, I appreciated it but didn’t really “get it”. I was in a “difficult” place with both my personal life and my cycling. Things were getting the better of me. Or rather, I was letting things get the better of me. But thanks to some close friends (some new and some old), I am coming out the other end again, and I can see how true it really is.

If life wasn’t hard occasionally, we’d never really appreciate it when it’s good. And right now it is really good.

So if you have some time, go visit Amber Rais’s blog about her recent pelvic fracture incident and how she is dealing with things... some more eye opening stuff.
The "5 minute rule" stuff is priceless.
http://amberrais.wordpress.com/