The Power to Fight Your Doubts

Sean Stephenson is a 30-year old American inspirational speaker from Oak Brook, IL. He is a successful psychotherapist who is pursuing his PhD. He has worked at the White House for former President Bill Clinton. He has recently released a book and has appeared on Oprah and CNN among others. Envious? How about that: he is 3 feet tall. Still envious?

Born with an extremely rare genetic disease, osteogenesis imperfecta also known as brittle bone disease, he has defied odds since the doctors had told his parents that their baby wouldn’t survive 24 hours. They were partially true since from his birth until he reached 18, he broke his bones 200 times. But Sean had a secret weapon: his parents.

Knowing that the future for their newborn son was uncertain, they decided, beside their unconditional support, to emphasize on a few points. First they made Sean focus on what he could do and forget what was not physically possible for him. They also used an egg-timer and made him limit his self-pity episodes to 15 minutes a day. No more! When in pain, which meant often, they asked him to focus on pleasant memories. Finally, their most important decision was to refuse to hide him.

30 years later, the boy who could break a bone just by sneezing is alive and inspiring others including me. I just tried an experiment and I encourage you to do it too. Tomorrow, throughout the day, time yourself while being on a self-pitying mode and you might be surprised at how short 15 minutes are.

Via chicagotribune.com

Sean Stephenson’s website, Time to stand and twitter page