فصل 8

• TAP INTO YOUR TALENTS

Finding and then developing a talent, hobby, or special interest can be one of the single greatest deposits you can make into your PBA.

Why is it that when we think of talents we think in terms of the “traditional” high-profile talents, such as the athlete, dancer, or award-winning scholar? The truth is, talents come in a variety of packages. Don’t think small. You may have a knack for reading, writing, or speaking. You may have a gift for being creative, being a fast learner, or being accepting of others. You may have organizational, music, or leadership skills. It doesn’t matter where your talent may lie, whether it’s in chess, drama, or butterfly collecting, when you do something you like doing and have a talent for—it’s exhilarating. It’s a form of self-expression. And as this girl attests, it builds esteem.

You might die laughing when I tell you that I have a real talent and love for weeds. And I’m not talking about the kind you smoke but weeds and flowers that grow everywhere. I realized that I always noticed them, while others just wanted them cut down.

So I started picking them and pressing them— and eventually making beautiful pictures and postcards and art objects with them. I have been able to cheer up many a sad soul with one of my personalized cards. I am often asked to do arrangements of flowers for others and to share my knowledge of preserving pressed plants. It’s given me so much joy and confidence—just knowing I have the special gift and appreciation for something most people ignore. But it even goes beyond that—it’s taught me that if there is so much to just simple weeds, how much more is there to almost everything else in life? It’s made me look deeper. It makes me an explorer. And I actually am just a normal young girl.

My brother-in-law, Bryce, told me how developing a talent helped build his self-confidence and find a career in which he could make a difference. His story is set in the Teton mountain range that stretches high above the plains of Idaho and Wyoming. The Grand Teton, the tallest of the Teton peaks, juts 13,776 feet above sea level.

As a young boy, Bryce had the picture-perfect baseball swing. Until his tragic accident. While playing with a BB gun one day, Bryce accidentally shot himself in the eye. Fearing that surgery might permanently impair his vision, the doctors left the BB in his eye.

Months later, when Bryce returned to baseball, he began striking out each time at bat. He had lost his depth perception and much of his vision in one eye and could no longer judge the ball. Said Bryce, “I was an all-star player the year before and now I couldn’t hit the ball. I was convinced that I would never be able to do anything again. It was a big blow to my confidence.” Bryce’s two older brothers were good at so many things, and he wondered what he could do now, given his new handicap. Since he lived near the Tetons he decided to give climbing a try. So he dropped by the local Army store and bought nylon rope, carabiners, chalks, pitons, and other climbing necessities. He checked out climbing books and studied how to tie knots, hook up a harness, and rappel. His first real climbing experience was rappelling off his friend’s chimney. Soon he began climbing some of the smaller peaks surrounding the Grand Teton.

Bryce soon realized that he had a knack for it. Unlike many of his climbing partners, his body was strong and lightweight and seemed to be perfectly built for rock climbing.

After training for several months, Bryce finally climbed the Grand Teton all by himself. It took him two days. Reaching this goal was a great confidence builder.

Climbing partners were hard to come by, so Bryce began training on his own. He would drive to the Tetons, run up to the base of the climb, do the climb, and run back down. He did this so often he became very good at it. One day a friend of his, Kim, said, “Hey, you ought to go after the record on the Grand Teton.” He told Bryce all about it. A climbing ranger named Jock Glidden had set a record on the Grand by running to the top and back in four hours and eleven minutes. “That’s absolutely impossible,” thought Bryce. “I’d like to meet this guy someday.” But as Bryce continued to do these types of runs, his times became faster and Kim kept saying, “You must go after the record. I know you could do it.” On one occasion, Bryce finally met Jock, the superhuman with the insurmountable record. Bryce and Kim were sitting in Jock’s tent when Kim, a well-known climber himself, said to Jock, “This guy here is thinking about going after your record.” Jock gazed at Bryce’s 125-pound frame and laughed aloud, as if to say, “Get a clue, you little runt.” Bryce felt devastated but quickly gathered himself. And Kim kept affirming him: “You can do it. I know you can do it.” Early in the morning on August 26, 1981, carrying a small orange backpack and a light jacket, Bryce ran to the top of the Grand and back in three hours, forty-seven minutes, and four seconds. He stopped only twice: once to take rocks out of his shoes and once to sign the register at the summit to prove he had been there. He felt marvelous! He had actually broken the record!

A few years later, Bryce received a surprise call from Kim. “Bryce, have you heard? Your record has just been broken.” Of course, he added, “You need to get it back. I know you can do it!” A man named Creighton King, who had recently won the heralded Pike’s Peak Marathon in Colorado, dashed to the top and back in three hours, thirty minutes, and nine seconds.

On August 26, 1983, two years after his last assault on the mountain, and ten days after his record had been broken, Bryce stood in the Lupine Meadows parking lot at the base of the Grand Teton in brand-new running shoes, ready and eager to break King’s record. With him were friends, family, Kim, and a crew from the local television station to film his run.

As before, he knew the hardest part of the climb would be the mental aspect. He didn’t want to become one of the two or three who die each year while attempting to scale the Grand.

Sportswriter Russell Weeks describes running the Grand as follows: “From the parking lot you face a run of about nine or ten miles up switchback trails, through a canyon, up two glacial moraines, two saddles, a gap between two peaks and a 700-foot climb up the west wall of the Grand to the top. The rise and fall in altitude from Lupine Meadows to the top and back is about 15,000 feet. Leigh Ortenburger’s Climber’s Guide to the Teton Range lists the last 700 feet alone as a three-hour climb.” Bryce took off running. As he ascended up, up, up the mountain, his heart pounded and his legs burned. Concentration was intense. Scaling the last 700 feet in twelve minutes, he reached the summit in one hour and fifty-three minutes and placed his verification card under a rock. He knew that if he were to break King’s record he would have to do it coming down. The descent became so steep at times that he was taking ten- to fifteen-foot strides. He passed some friends who later told him his face had turned purple from oxygen depletion. Another climbing party apparently knew he was going for the record because, as he passed, they yelled, “Go! Go!” Amid cheers, Bryce returned to Lupine Meadows with bleeding knees, thrashed tennis shoes, and one horrific headache, three hours, six minutes, and twenty-five seconds after he had left. He had done the impossible!

Word spread fast and Bryce became known as the best mountain climber around. “It gave me an identity,” said Bryce. “Everyone wants to be known for something, and so did I. My ability to climb gave me something to work for and was a great source of self-esteem. It was my way of expressing myself.” Today, Bryce is founder and president of a very successful company that makes high-performance backpacks for climbers and mountain runners. Most important, Bryce is making a living doing what he loves to do and what he is good at and has used his talent to bless his life and the lives of many others.

Oh, by the way, the record still stands. (Now, don’t get any wild ideas.) And Bryce still has that BB in his eye.

So, my friends, if you need a shot of confidence, start making some deposits into your PBA starting today. You’ll feel the results instantly. And, remember, you don’t have to climb a mountain to make a deposit. There are a million and one safer ways.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Up ahead we’ll talk about the many ways in which you and your dog are

different. Read on and you’ll see what I mean!

BABY STEPS

Keep Promises to Yourself

1 Get up when you planned to for 3 days in a row.

2 Identify one easy task that needs to be done today, like putting in a batch of laundry, or reading a book for an English assignment. Decide when you will do it. Now, keep your word and get it done.

Do Random Acts of Service

3 Sometime today, do a kind anonymous deed, like writing a thank-you note, taking out the trash, or making someone’s bed.

4 Look around and find something you can do to make a difference, like cleaning up a park in your neighborhood, volunteering in a senior citizens center, or reading to someone who can’t.

Tap Into Your Talents

5 List a talent you would like to develop this year. Write down specific steps to get there.

6 Make a list of the talents you most admire in other people.

Be Gentle with Yourself

7 Think about an area of life you feel inferior in. Now breathe deeply and tell yourself, “It’s not the end of the world.” 8 Try to go an entire day without negative self talk. Each time you catch yourself putting yourself down, you have to replace it with three positive thoughts about yourself.

Renew Yourself

9 Decide on a fun activity that will lift your spirits and do it today. For example, turn up the music and dance.

10 Feeling lethargic? Get up right now and go for a fast walk around the block.

Be Honest

11 The next time your parents ask you about what you’re doing, share the complete story. Don’t leave out information meant to mislead or deceive.

12 For one day, try not to exaggerate or embellish!