Adversity reveals greatness

November 16, 2007 · Posted in Inspiration, Motivation 

As a proponent of personal development, I read as much as possible. My reading content can be books, magazines, newspapers or blogs. While on vacation at Disney World last month, I had the good fortune to pick up one of the best books that I’ve ever read on personal marketing.

The book is titled You, Inc – The Art of Selling Yourself. and is co-authored by Harry Beckwith and Christine Clifford Beckwith. I had picked this book up on a number of previous occasions, but did not purchase it. Somehow, I kept gravitating back to it, so I finally bought it. I wish that I had gotten it earlier.

92Christine Clifford Beckwith is a fantastic writer, but more than that, she is a fighter and breast cancer survivor. In You, Inc. she reveals that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994. Christine didn’t let breast cancer stop her. To the contrary, she was able to view her experiences as somewhat comedic and then create a variety of cartoons that illustrated how humor helped her to deal with this disease.

When I returned from Disney World, I felt compelled to contact Christine and tell her how much I had enjoyed her writing. I visited her web site, www.cancerclub.com, found her contact information and wrote her an email. To be honest, I was quite surprised when she responded. We have traded e-mails a number of times and she has been quite helpful to me.

Cancerclub.com is an excellent source of inspiration, articles, cartoons, gifts and support for breast cancer survivors. Christine has a wonderful sense of humor, which she uses to create her hilarious cartoons. She was kind enough to allow me to publish the one that you see here, but there are plenty more on her web site.

Christine is one of those rare people who has used the adversity in her life as a stepping stone to help and inspire others. My hat is off to you, Christine. You are one in a million.

“Cartoon printed with permission from Christine K. Clifford from Not Now…I’m Having a No Hair Day! (University of Minnesota Press, 1996)

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Comments

6 Responses to “Adversity reveals greatness”

  1. Lawrence Cheok | A Long Long Road on November 17th, 2007 10:53 pm

    Hi Chris,

    thanks for sharing this. I agree with you that adversity does bring out the best in us.

    Christine’s story provides me with a lot of inspirations and motivations.

    I think we all face adversities (although in a lesser degree) everyday and at work as well. If you think about it, we all have our chances to display such greatness in our life as well; be it at home, at work.

    We all can be great, if only we learn to see it that way.

  2. Chris Melton on November 18th, 2007 5:14 am

    I agree that we all do face challenges everyday (though to a much lessor extent) that provide us with the opportunity to show “what we are made of”. In essence, adversity reveals a persons true nature.

  3. Brad Baggett on November 18th, 2007 3:22 pm

    Nice article Chris, I will be sure and check out Chritine’s book and website. It is so amazing how many inspiring and positive stories you can find when you start looking. We should start a news network :)!

    http://www.JuiceofChampions

  4. Chris Melton on November 18th, 2007 10:43 pm

    I think that you are on to something.

  5. adelaide on November 19th, 2007 2:40 pm

    While I don’t have cancer I do suffer from a differnt illness and to be honest it’s a blessing in disguise. I have a strong appreciation for my life and the world around me. Adversity strips us so we are left with what we truly are and not just what we think we are.

  6. Chris Melton on November 20th, 2007 2:04 am

    Somebody said, “Adversity does not make the man, it only reveals him to himself”. I think you said it best.

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