Inspirational people Paul De Gelder Shark attack survivor
Thursday, May 5th, 2011Inspirational people, Paul De Gelder, a Shark attack survivor who has overcome horrific injuries to resume.
After a vicious shark attack in 2009 left Paul requiring Amputation of his right leg and right forearm he has overcome adversity to the triumphant. What is truly amazing is Paul’s belief in himself and mental strength which she attributes to his military training.
After being discharged from the hospital two months after the attack, Paul had to rebuild his life by learning how to walk and reestablish the life he once had. While many people could easily succumb to depression, Paul overcame the initial negative feelings and thoughts of how he could possibly resume his life as it once existed.
The pivotal moment was the realisation that no matter how he felt about the situation, at the end of the day he would still be without limbs. While facing his own mortality and not being held back by the fear of death, it gave him a sense of freedom. This gave him the strength to cease taking the painkilling medication and prepare himself both the mentally and physically, it’s about leaving your comfort zone.
What is truly inspirational is Paul taking control and not dwelling on a medical negative aspects of the situation. Like many people negativity can quickly spiral out of control and fortunately Paul acknowledged the lethalness off negative thinking at an early stage. It was all about not giving up and not seeing failure as an option but rather holding onto his goals and keep trying no matter what. As Paul said it was easy to say but hard to do.
After starting his own rehabilitation with very intense physical training and setting small goals of how far he would walk or how many stairs he would climb. This echoes the best strategy in achieving those big hairy audacious goals, those goals that seem insurmountable at the time that are achievable when broken down into small pieces. As Paul’s goal was to walk eventually, his immediate goal wasn’t to walk but rather a mini goal of moving so far.
We all have these negative little voices saying he can’t perform if it’s too hard, I can’t be bothered Paul had positive thoughts of not giving up and being stronger.
While there are those moments of remorse and questioning that moment with the shark he turns this around just as quickly and looks at the situation more philosophically that there are many other opportunities in his life we made being impaired or killed such as his motor bike riding or being deployed to work in Afghanistan as a clearance diver.
While it may be in the case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time the overall experience made him stronger and to perform at a higher level than he may otherwise have. Paul goes on to say about the mind being like a hammer, that can push a person far beyond what their own expectations are. So rather than focusing on what is happening, it’s more about focusing on the outcome, about having the right attitude to overcome these hurdles placed infront of you.














