The Resilient Mind - When It All Falls Apart, Listen To This - Nick Vujicic

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

Born with no limbs, learn about how Nic overcame adversity. Nic Vujicic is a motivational speaker of Serbian descent, born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of arms and legs.Take action and strengthen your mind with The Resilient Mind Journal. Get your free digital copy today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Now⁠⁠ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Resilient Mind podcast. In this episode, you will be listening to when it all falls apart. Listen to this with Nick Voyichich. Get access to the Resilient Mind Journal by clicking the link in the show notes. Enjoy. My parents always said, Nick, you don't know where you can achieve until you try it. And the doctors looked at me and said, he's not going to walk, he's not going to go to school, he's not going to do anything in his life.

And then my parents, they just, loved me like crazy and said, you've got to try. Try this, try that, try this, try that. And I'm thinking sometimes like, Mom and Dad, you're crazy, man. I have no arms, no legs. How would I ever be able to do this or do that? But they encouraged me and they loved me. And as human beings, we're waiting for stuff like that. We all want love. Everybody say love. Very good. The definition of Tough means it's strong. To show your strength, you need to do something that's difficult. I would sound so stupid if I said, hey, guys, I got a matchbox car one day and I got some

fishing line and I told that matchbox car all around all day. How tough is my BMW? That's stupid. I don't care if you end up being a janitor in this school. I'll tell you why. because the janitor in my high school inspired me to be a speaker. He changed my life. He said, you should be a speaker.

You know what I said? You're crazy. He said, no, really, you need to be a speaker. I said, stop it, man. Four months later, he twisted my arm. And I said, yes. I spoke in front of 10 people. Then another 10, then another 10.

and I found myself in front of 300 sophomore students. And three minutes into my speech, half the girls were crying. And one girl in the middle of the room started weeping. And she put up my hand and she said, I'm so sorry. Can I come up there and give you a hug? And in front of everybody, she came up and she hugged me and she cried on my shoulder and she whispered in this ear. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

No one's ever told me that they love me. No one's ever told me that I'm beautiful the way that I am. It was because my parents told me that I was beautiful, that I'm still here. Some of you don't have those parents, and that's why I'm here. I love you and you're beautiful just the way you are. Never ever give up. I want to talk about when I started going to school and stuff, a lot of people put me down. You know what I mean?

People tease each other. I mean, people come up and say, hey, you're fat, your fact, your fact, your fact, your fact, you fact, you fact, you know. You're like, lose some way. and you're like, you go home and you look yourself in the mirror and go, I'm fat, right? And so many people tease each other. Oh, you know, you're too short, you're too tall, you look, whatever. They're different hair and all that. It doesn't matter.

See, the thing is, when you're in school, when you're growing up in life, it actually sort of matters to people how you look. And then it matters to you because it matters to others. Why? Why does it matter how you look? Because if they don't like people. you, then who will? If they don't accept you, then who will? And the fear that we have is that we're going to be alone, that we're not good enough. And, you know, we have to change ourselves. You know, so many people put me down and say, Nick, you look too weird and no one's really

offended, and you can't do this and you can't do that. And I couldn't change anything. It's not like just fixing my hair one day and everything's fine. It's not like, you know, just whatever. I couldn't change my circumstance. I couldn't just one day wake up and say, hey, me arms and legs. I need arms and legs. You know what I mean? Like, I went to a bodybuilder, you know, and said, can you make me some arms and legs? No joking. Bodybuilder, you get it? Right? So this is the thing. You know, I go up to people, can you give me a hand? You know, I'm just joking. But it was so hard because people put me down. And I started believing that I was not good enough. I started believing that I was a failure. That I never ever be somebody who people would like or

people would accept. And it was so hard, man, I thought to myself, you know, I can't go on the, go on the soccer field like everybody else, and I can't ride my bike, and I can't skateboard and all these sort of things. I started getting depressed. I thought, what kind of purpose do I have to live? I mean, are you just here to live to die? I mean, is there not a purpose for me? Is there not a purpose in life? And I had questions and no answers, and I asked my mom and dad, why did this happen? I asked doctors, why did this happen? They don't know. There are some things in life that are out of your control that you can't change and you've got to live with. The choice that we have, though, is either to give up or keep on going.

I want to ask you, what are you going to believe? Are you going to believe in yourself? You're going to believe everybody else's judgment on you? Are you going to believe people when they say that you're a failure? No one really likes you. No one really cares about you. And it's not really to say that, hey, you need someone to. come up and say, hey, really, I like you, I care about you. No, it's not that, but it's the fact

that people put you down. People don't even look you in the eye. People ask you how you are, and you say fine, but you're not fine, and they'll never know that. I'll tell you, life is interesting, life's a journey. See this, phone here? Let's say that I want to go to the phone, right? And I start from over here. Now, to get to the phone, it's not like I'm going to start meditating and going hum, right, and float across the air. right? It's not going to work. It's not like I'm going to go hum and woo, you know, it's not going to work. So I have to take one step at a time, one step at a time, one step at a time. You can only take one step at a time. I don't care how big your step is, it's only one step

at a time. You can't do two steps in one. You understand? So it's like one step at a time. And you take steps in this direction, you take steps in that direction, sort of get lost along the way and sometimes you fall down. Now to illustrate my point, I'm going to jump off the table door back twist and land on the floor. Okay, is that cool? Are you ready? There's a clock there. Okay, can you move the clock for a second please? Beautiful, beautiful. All right. You ready? So, are you guys ready? Just let me know when you're ready. Are you ready? Okay, ready. One, two. I'm joking, man. Are you serious? Just put the clock back. there. If I did that, I'll break my arm or something. You know what I mean? But honestly, along the way,

you might fall down like this. Ready? All right? So what do you do when you fall down? Get back up. Everybody knows to get back up, because if I start walking, I'm not going to get anywhere. But I tell you, there are some times in life where you fall down and you feel like you don't have the strength to get back up. You sort of put a mask on your way. You sort of put a mask on your way. You sort of put a your face when you come to school and pretend that everything's okay when it's not and you go home and lay in your bed when no one's looking at you when you don't have to impress anybody and you're yourself and fear comes in you know the fear that you have as soon as you walk into the doors of your house maybe there's a broken home maybe you have doubt in your life maybe you don't know for sure

what's going to be happening in the future and it scares you. you. Maybe you're worried about what people think of you, what people say about you. Just that fear paralyzes you. And I just want to ask you today, do you think you have hope? Because I tell you, I'm down here, face down, and I have no arms, no legs. It should be impossible for me to get back up. I mean, you go home and tie the legs and arms of your brothers and sisters and like, push them down. and see how long it's going to take and to get back up. You know what I mean? You know, you can tell them that you'll see him tomorrow.

You know what I mean? But this is the thing. It should be impossible for me to get back up, but it's not. You see, I will try 100 times to get up, and if I fail 100 times, if I fail and I give up, do you think that I'm ever going to get up? No.

But if I fail, I try again and again and again. for as long as I try, there's always that chance of getting up. Does that make sense? And it's not the end until you've given up. And just the fact that you're here should persuade you that you have another chance to get back up. There's still hope. I'm not here today to tell you that I understand your pain. I don't know how it feels to be abused. I don't know how it feels to feel, quote, fat and you've got an eating disorder. I don't know how it feels to have a broken home? I don't know how it feels, but I know how it feels to have a broken heart, and I know how it feels to be alone. And I want you to know that I found my strength in Jesus Christ, and you're going to

find your strength in whatever you find it in. But I just want you to know that it's not the end. It matters how you're going to finish. Are you going to finish strong? And you will find that strength to get back up like this. How did I get from depressed to who I am today? Because I tell you, I was depressed. When I was age eight, I used to concentrate on the things I didn't have. I wish I had arms legs and I wish I could do this. But what can I do? You see, I have a choice. And that's what I want to talk about today, choices. I can either be angry for not having arms and legs and eggs. I'll be thankful for my chicken drumstick. And you see, I can still do a lot of things. At home, I can brush my teeth, kind my hair, get myself ready in the morning.

I'm traveling around the world. It's amazing. But I had to ask myself a couple questions. And the first question was really, who am I? Who am I? I'm Nick Voyage, but who is that? And it's funny how the friends around you sort of determine who you are. You change yourself. You come to school. And everybody swore around me at high school, so I started swearing. Why? Because it's the cool thing to do.

everybody swears. So I don't want to be left out and I want to be accepted so I started swearing. You go to a party, everybody's drinking. So you drink, why everybody else around me is doing a big deal. And you start losing yourself and you start putting your security in temporary things. You start putting your happiness in things that won't last. You can get drunk all you like but in the morning you're going to be sober with a headache with a same problems. You want to be high the rest of your life on drugs? Everybody say, don't do drugs, don't do drugs. Why? Why do we even go there? So either out of curiosity, peer pressure, or trying to escape reality. Basically, three things. That's why we go to drugs, sex, alcohol.

Why do you do it? Because it feels good. Okay? That's how we're doing it. I mean, if you want something, you go get it. You want to buy something, you save up money, you go get it. Why? Because that will make you happy. And we take these steps in the wrong direction that will actually take you away from your dreams. Oh, don't worry, Nick, drugs and alcohol won't take me away from my dreams and my purpose and sex and all that. No. But I tell you, it actually will. Because you go to a level of drinking and you go to a level of drugs and it's not enough. You'll find that out. And then you'll try something new. And then you'll also go to school and people will put you down and parents will tell you that you're a failure because you failed at a test. And you start believing the lies around

you saying that you're not good enough and no one's going to want you and you'll never ever do anything good in your life and you'll never ever, you know, achieve the dreams and goals that you wish you had done or wish that you could do. And these steps take you closer, that voice saying, you're not good enough, you're not good enough, you're not good enough. And all you need is one more step to fall. So you have a choice. to know which step you're going to take today. Let me ask you, do you know who you are? You want to know who I think you are?

You care about what your friends think, who you are, you know, you care about their opinion. You want to know who I am? You don't know what I think you are? I'll tell you right now. I don't care how you look. Honestly, if you're 400 kilos, I'm going to come up to you and give you a hug

and say that I love you. I don't care if you're, If you're fat, shawl, tall, tall, thin. I don't care how you look. I don't care what you're good at. I don't care what you're not good at. I don't care if you like rock and roll music or not. I don't care.

I didn't care. I didn't care if you're good mathematician or a good athletic or not good in anything that you think. But I'm going to come and tell you that you're awesome just the way you are. I know so many teenagers who look themselves in the mirror and wish that they had a different body. girls you're beautiful just the way you are you're gorgeous you're gorgeous just i love you just the way you are and you're the man because it's not how you look when you see me for the first time many of you felt sorry for me do you feel sorry for me anymore no why because you know who i am but don't you remember I have no arms and no legs?

Would you want to be my friend? Of course you would. Why? Because you like who I am. But I have no arms and no legs. And you're going to say, so what? So when you say, well, I have this or I don't have that, I'm going to go, so what? I don't care.

You are worth more than diamonds. All the diamonds in the world, you are so precious. Every single one of your hearts, you can do something. not just something that you can do but you can live life life is not always good life is always not rosy

but life is worth living when you find purpose thank you for tuning in continue strengthening your mind by listening to our other episodes