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Blog 249 finished with these words.
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My son Chris Hankin. Some of our heroes really do wear a uniform that tells you straight away you are looking at a hero, but most of us heroes do not wear uniforms.
I am as proud of you as I am of my son.
You REALLY do not need to wear a uniform to be a hero.
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Working out the mechanism you will use to leave the Pit is, of course, hard. How can you work out the direction for the exit when you can barely see?
You have to be kind to yourself and work out practical steps that you can carry out.
One technique that has worked for me is called One Step at a Time.
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You do not have to tell yourself that never again will you have a dark moment and that you always have to show a happy face from this moment on.
Try doing your Great Escape One Step at a Time.
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When Margaret was diagnosed with untreatable cancer, my immune system went into deep panic mode. I developed an inability to get air into my lungs. In the first months after Margaret’s diagnosis, my “breath attacks” (asthma) came only two or three times a week and they always came when I was in a safe place.
But, I love walking in Morialta and one day when I was walking deep within Morialta Conservation Park, I got a breath attack.
I was high up in the mountains and the only quick way back to help and safety would have been to make a great leap – preferably with a Spider Man sticky line to haul me down safely. But I am not Spider Man and leaping to safety would have resulted in a quick death. So, I had to get down slowly.
I sat on the ground for a moment and gathered my thoughts. To get down, I had to walk down the track – safely and slowly. And that would take a minimum of 30 minutes if I had been able to breathe properly. The choices were simple enough
Stay sitting on the ground and die from lack of air; or
Start walking down the mountain and hope I got down.
Love gave me the strength to start walking down the mountain.
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I feebly inhaled, getting a pitiful amount of air into my lungs – and I then put one leg forward and forced my body to move. It was SO HARD. I knew it was impossible for me to get down the mountain by doing this. I also knew it was impossible for me to ever see Margaret again if I did not get down the mountain.
I took only one step at a time.
I blotted out from my mind, the thought that I was trying to get anywhere. I was not trying to get down the mountain. I was doing only one thing. I was placing one foot in front of the other.
One step.
One step.
One step.
I was doing nothing else except taking single steps.
I ignored the scenery around me.
I did not tell myself I had now made it to the halfway point or the three quarter point.
I did not tell myself anything except “Move this leg and place it on the ground in front of that leg.”
I forced myself to hear nothing and to see nothing. My complete focus was on the One Step at a Time.
The world consisted solely of me forcing one foot into the air and placing it on the ground in front of the other foot.
Amazingly, astonishingly … I looked up after an unmeasurable time and I had got down the mountain. I staggered to a park bench and knew I was safe.
I now knew I would definitely see Margaret again.
Love gave me the strength to walk out of Morialta alive.
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Love will give you the strength to put one foot in front of another.
You can force yourself to keep going until tomorrow.
When tomorrow comes, it will no longer be tomorrow … and you can force yourself to keep going until the new tomorrow comes.
When you have made yourself walk through enough tomorrows, it will slowly dawn on you that you have truly walked out of the Pit.
You can do this because you are a hero.
Ignore anyone claiming you are nothing like a hero.
Just look into the mirror.
The face you see is yours, and you ARE a hero.
Nothing could be more certain.
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I will tell you more tomorrow.
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