When professional surfer Mick Fanning was attacked by a shark in South Africa on live television in 2016, getting back in the water was the last thing on his mind.
“I’m happy to not even compete ever again. Seriously, to walk away from that, I’m just so stoked,” he said.
Fanning said it was a miracle that he’d escaped from the shark. But soon, the euphoria of survival gave way to reality, and the mental and emotional stress set in. In a 60 Minutes interview, the three-time world champion opened up about the nightmares that ensued after the attack and his internal battle to control his inner “demons.”
“I guess when something like this happens, you’re in your own mind, and your mind can play tricks on you,” he told 60 Minutes. “Your mind can…you know, turn shadows into demons or stuff like that. And then and then you sort of have like different self-doubts, and, like, why did I get away with that?”
Yet just six days after the terrifying incident, Fanning mustered the courage to return to the water in his native Australia. And nearly a month later, Fanning made his return to the competitive circuit at the Tahiti Pro event.
So how was Fanning able to rebound so quickly? How was he able to harness the strength and determination to overcome his deepest fears?
“It’s one of those things where you have to get back on the horse,” Fanning continued in the interview. “Things happen all the time and it’s the way you react to them that sort of defines them and what they mean.”
These words couldn’t be more true.
Regardless of what has happened in our lives, we all have one power that can change everything: the power of choice. We cannot choose the events that occur or the circumstances we may find ourselves in, but we can choose what we focus on, what we give meaning to, and what path we will walk down in the future. And it is these three choices, not our conditions, which determine the quality of our lives.
Even when you experience a traumatic event, you are given a choice. How will you allow it to impact your life? How are you going to mold it? How are you going to turn your life around? We can allow the stress and uncertainty caused by these events to overwhelm us, or we can transform our lives by making different decisions.
