Life fail
BY NICK CHURCHOUSESecond chances. I've had a few, but then again too few to mention.
Just looking around the news this morning, there are second chances happening left right and centre.
The lumberjack who survived an illegal backcheck from a two-tonne rolling stump.
Infratil founder Lloyd Morrison, knocking cancer onto the ropes.
Mickey Rourke, claiming he's learned from the first half of his drug-addled life, and now engaged to a 24-year-old Russian hottie.
Dare I say it, Tiger Woods might even get a second chance if he can eke enough atoning out of his fast diminishing ego. But that might be asking too much, given we are up to mistress number 11 and counting.
Nonetheless, getting another crack at life after coming a cropper is something that makes you sit back and think.
Have I used up one of my nine lives?
I've not really had any near death experiences, nor have I managed to bed a cohort of porn stars, waitresses and models on the sly. I have not lived a rock and roll lifestyle only to pop out the other end with a newfound respect for my own mortality. I have not stared death in the face and mopped up my own blood with a tea towel while calling 111 with my other hand.
God help me if I ever have to.
But it makes me wonder how life looks after an experience that has scuppered your world, kneecapped you (or caused your 9-iron wielding Norwegian wife to) or smacked you flat and then granted a last-minute respite from the stairway to heaven.
If life fails you, or you fail life, and yet you are still here staring ahead at a few more years to go, what goes through your mind?
I imagine the experience, however it happens, is like a colonic irrigation for your perspective - ridding it of the sedentary crap and built-up bacteria and allowing a fresh whiff of the world.
What do you do with it?
My second chances don't really rate when compared with a terminal disease, being smote by a tree or landing safely in a tree when your parachute fails to open.
I walked away from a head on with a concrete wall when I was 12. I pulled through an underwater catastrophe in a submerged cave network. I awoke from a life-threatening bout of dysentery in Morocco.
Yadda yadda yadda. My tales pale in comparison to the stories of survival and triumph against adversity you hear from time to time.
Each of the examples I mentioned will have pretty stark outcomes and I don't want to compare them in any way.
But no doubt each of the people involved will be looking at the world in a different way.
I interviewed Lloyd Morrison yesterday and he said things take on a new meaning. He said life's priorities get juggled around and refreshed. I can only imagine.
It shouldn't take a dance with the devil in the pale moonlight to reconsider and improve the way you walk in the world. So I thought I'd ask for a few reflections if you can relate.
What has made you sit up and take stock of yourself?
- © Fairfax NZ News
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I agree with you MSM. It's definitely the relationships and friendships experiences that make me realise the sort of person I want to be and how grateful I am to be in this position.
Although my sister and I got locked in a toilet for like 4 hours once, that was pretty scary...I was only like 9.
Had one near death experience driving my car. Road was wet, went around a corner a little too fast. Lost control. Skidded down the road at 100ks and then when my car gained some grip went across the centre line and landed in a paddock.
Certainly didn't feel good driving after that. But was counting the amount of things to be thankful for with the accident. 1. No vehicles coming the other way. Would of been a gonner. 2. No ditch. Country roads normally have that huge rain ditch. Would of totaled me & car. 3. No trees in the way when I landed in the paddock was right in the middle of them. Extremely lucky. 4. No animals there. Wouldn't of wanted to try and herd cows or sheep. 5. I still had my car in one peice (sorta) and had to take it home in it's damaged state.
Still thankful after that cause it was at high speed and definietly could of finished me off. I still own the car.
Otherwise nothing else in my life has come close.
BLOG FAIL!!!!!
Elin Woods is Swedish not Norwegian. Sorry to all Norskes for any offence caused.
As they say up that way ... yern de burgdeburdy flurgen (Swedish Chef accent).
I think Rob Hewitt's tale of survival is absolutely incredible. I would imagine his outlook on life changed drastically after he was rescued. Imagine four days out at sea, wondering if anyone was going to come, and actually managing to remain afloat, let alone alive, for so long. He must be an incredibly strong man, mentally and physically.
I survived a tsunami. There is nothing quite like mother nature coming after you (like lapping at your feet) to make you sit back and wonder what life is really about and what you could be doing to improve the world.
Too heavy for a thursday afternoon? Possibly. I'm off to the pub...
My son dying from cancer - he was only 10 months old.
People say: 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger'. Johnny dying didn't make me stronger - it just left a huge hole in my heart that will never heal
Well I survived flesh eating bugs but only just. Was only hours away from dying...Does indeed cause one to reassess ones life. So that said I woke up and decided to change my life...places to go and people to see etc. Dicovered that I regret what I haven't done..so I'm off to do those things...
I hit a tree snowboarding. Sonny Bono did the same thing 2 weeks earlier and he died. I only had 5 broken vertebrae, concussion and a dislocated jaw to deal with. Not being able to walk for a few weeks wasn't fun, but did it change my approach to life. No.
I don't believe it takes a near death experience to bring about a change of focus in one's life. It may be a catalyst for some, but others it just makes them turn more in on themselves and become less engaged with the world.
i was in new orleans during hurricane katrina. i was a firefighter. i lost everything. including my beloved dog. sad times.
I've had a couple of brushes with death, but more on the scale of yours Nick - one scary car accident and a case of hypthermia. The crash certainly shook me enough to make me a much more careful driver but that's about it.
I find it's more the relationships and friendships that start and end which give me perspective and make me take stock of my life. Namely what do I want now? Was I being me in that relationship or has "me" changed since then?
It is a shame that it takes (usually) an upsetting situation to make us do this but at least there's something that forces most people to look at their lives now and then - imagine if we all just went on with the initial path set down before us and never altered our mindset or goals. How very boring that would be.