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No-arms, no-legs guy Nick Vujicic tells Manila: It’s okay to fail
It’s amazing how one man—a motivational speaker at that—could almost fill Smart-Araneta Coliseum to full capacity (that’s more than 10,000 people). But that’s what happened when 33-year-old Nick Vujicic (pronounced Voo-yee-cheech) held two talks last Friday at the Big Dome.
Nick who? He’s the guy with no arms and no legs but who can stand tall brimming with faith and courage amid the challenges the world offers.
Born with a rare congenital disorder called phocomelia syndrome, where arms and legs are absent or are attached to the trunk like stubs, Nick had every reason to feel sorry for himself growing up in Brisbane, Australia. He didn’t look like everybody else and certainly felt different. Whereas others have two feet, he had one little foot attached to his torso. Whereas many have two hands to reach out, he had none.
And yet, one of the first things he said last Friday at the Big Dome was: “I’m just like you.”
“My doctors, parents, Lady Gaga don’t know why I was born this way,” he said. But then he added that we all have something in common with him. “We all have disabilities—disabilities of the heart.”
We all have disabilities -- disabilities of the heart. -@nickvujicic in Manila pic.twitter.com/evGN9LzVGA
— Karen Galarpe (@kgalarpe) July 29, 2016
But before you think Nick’s Friday talk was preaching ala fire-and-brimstone type, let me tell you that it was not. It seemed more like a friend talking to another friend of how he was down and out and almost lost it, of how he found hope and joy, and of how you too, despite all your problems and difficulties, can find what he found too.
As a successful motivational speaker today, Nick has been to 61 countries telling his life story. He was in Manila three years ago, and talked about how he was bullied in school and felt sorry for himself.
Last Friday, he told the story again. “I was depressed as a child… At age 10, I tried to drown myself in the bathtub because I felt I had no hope… I hated God for years. At 15, I read a chapter in the gospel of John. I realized, if God has a plan for a blind man, I believe He has a plan for me,” he told the crowd.
In his parents’ eyes, Nick was perfectly imperfect. “My parents’ perspective was I was beautiful, special, perfect just the way I am. I am perfectly imperfect.” In fact, his father Boris recently wrote a book about parenting Nick, entitled “Raising the Perfectly Imperfect Child.” His father’s advice to him was: “You may lack limbs, but don't let that define what you can or can't do.”
Putting his faith in God and with his parents’ loving support, Nick found joy and hope. “The greatest thing is your identity. You can’t touch my heart. You are beautiful just the way you are. Be the best you can be,” he exhorted the audience.
On failing and trying again
Nick’s career as a motivational speaker started in his own high school. A 61-year-old janitor from India named Arnold told him, “Nick, you’re gonna be a speaker. You need to speak to the students at lunch. You have a story to tell.”
“I said, ‘No, I don’t have a story to tell,’ and he said, ‘Yes, you do.’ ‘No, I don’t.’ ‘Yes, you do.’ This went on for about three months. Finally, I said yes,” Nick told the audience.
So he soon found himself speaking before six to eight students at lunchtime, and a girl cried. When he asked why she was crying, the girl said, “I was just touched.” “I didn’t know that hope could be received,” Nick said.
That “speaking engagement” encouraged him to call up schools in Brisbane and offer his services. “I called 53 schools, saying ‘Hi, I’m Nick and I’m a speaker and I have no arms and legs. Could I go to your school and speak?’ One said I will freak them out. Fifty-two said no. Then on the 53rd one, I got better and better (at pitching myself). They agreed to a $50 fee, which I paid to my brother to take me there. I paid for fuel. The school was two and a half hours away. My brother died of laughter. I decided that day that I won’t be a speaker. My family told me, ‘Nick, just be an accountant like what your father said.' I went to bed crying,” he said.
But the next day, he received a call from another school who heard about his talk at the school two-and-a-half hours away. They invited him to speak at their school, and offered to pick him up and bring him home.
This invitation was followed by other invites to speak to youth groups and churches.
He recounted one time speaking to 300 teenagers and a teenage girl could not stop crying. She asked if she could hug him. She said, “No one told me I’m beautiful, and I am loved.” Nick said that was the day he knew he was really going to be a speaker.
Today, Nick gets about 100 invitations a week and has received 35,000 invitations to date.
And so Nick asked Manila: “If you fail, are you a failure? How many times are you willing to try? Is it okay to fail? Does everyone fail? Is it okay to try again?”
“I failed in many things. I had my ups and downs. Whatever your goals are, you can try. And if you fail, get up and try again. Many successful people started at zero… Never give up. Sometimes you are the greatest hindrance to your success,” he told the crowd.
Nick stressed that the hope he has is connected with having a personal relationship with God. “If you cannot forgive yourself for what you’ve done, talk to God. When God forgives you, He has forgotten all your sins. He makes you new. Don’t live in the past. Learn from it. Try to forgive yourself. Move on,” he said.
And should forgiving be hard, he suggests this simple prayer: “Lord, help me today to forgive quicker.”
“Hope is everything, not money, drugs, fame, fortune. You can make a difference like what that janitor did for me, what my parents did for me. You have a purpose,” Nick added.
“What miracles could come from your broken pieces!” he said. “Dream big. Keep on going.” — BM, GMA News
