Transcript

Enduring #1125 · From Chad

0:01
There's nothing like comparison for providing perspective.
0:05
There's a story behind that. This is your daily message from
0:08
Chad #1125 to upgrade your mental game today by telling
0:12
yourself a better story. Because the most important story
0:15
you hear is the story you tell yourself.
0:17
And this message is dedicated to Nancy Austell on her birthday.
0:20
Happy birthday Nancy. Here's the upgrade.
0:24
They say comparison is the thief of joy, but upgraded thinking
0:27
knows the right comparison hands your perspective back.
0:30
Here's the story. Alistair Urquhart told his story
0:33
in a book called The Forgotten Highlander.
0:36
It may be the most remarkable tale of survival I've ever
0:39
encountered. The best way to tell it briefly
0:41
is to give you the litany of what he endured.
0:44
Urquhart was a young Scotsman conscripted at 19 into the
0:47
Golden Highlanders during World War 2.
0:50
His first reaction to being drafted wasn't fear of war, it
0:53
was fear of losing his job. He'd been working since he was
0:55
14 to help his family through the Depression.
0:58
He was shipped to Singapore. The Japanese invaded and took
1:01
him prisoner. He spent 750 days as a slave in
1:05
the jungle, building the Death Railway and the bridge over the
1:08
River Kwai. Most of that time he was
1:11
completely naked. He contracted dysentery,
1:14
malaria, tropical ulcers, berriberry, kidney stones and
1:18
cholera, often several at once. Then he was loaded onto a hell
1:23
ship, which was torpedoed by the Allies.
1:26
Almost everyone died. He shot out of the sinking hold
1:30
like a cork out of a champagne bottle.
1:33
Saved partly by swimming skills he'd learned as a as a Boy
1:36
Scout, he spent five days adrift alone at sea before a Japanese
1:42
whaling ship to pick him picked him up.
1:45
They sent him to Nagasaki to labor in a coal mine.
1:48
Two months later, he was struck by the blast of the atomic bomb.
1:52
When the Marines liberated him, he had dropped from 135 lbs to
1:57
82. He came home to Scotland to
2:00
learn his best friend had died in the war and the girl he loved
2:03
had married and moved to Canada. How did he survive?
2:08
His mantra was 3 words survive this day.
2:13
The camp Doctor Who saved his life said two men with identical
2:16
symptoms could have opposite fates, and the difference was
2:20
sheer willpower in the power of the mind.
2:23
At 90 years old, Urquhart wrote this this book to inspire others
2:28
to persevere. He wrote quote, There's no such
2:32
word as can't. I have not allowed my life to be
2:35
blinded by bitterness. In quote.
2:37
In his 90s, he was still working on his foxtrot.
2:41
He died in 2016 at the age of 97.
2:45
The better story to tell yourself is if Alistair endured
2:49
that, I can endure this day. That's the comparison that
2:53
provides perspective. Whatever is stressing you today,
2:57
the deadline, the bill, the hard conversation, hold it up next to
3:01
750 days naked in the jungle with malaria.
3:05
You are so much stronger than you think you are.
3:08
You can endure so much more than you think you can.
3:11
You can survive this day. Tell me a story of a comparison
3:15
that gave you perspective to from chad.smith@gmail.com.
3:20
Send someone a text and tell them you can endure so much more
3:23
than you think you can. You can get a free copy of my
3:26
book, The Most Powerful Story in the World, by going to from
3:28
chad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message
3:32
and hundreds of others are always available at
3:33
www.fromchad.com.