Live With your Vision

When I'm not watching sport, I somehow find the time to hold down a job with a company called Aum Consultancy.  We deal with stress, depression, anger management, well-being and many many other areas of mental health.  We do 121 counselling, as well as group training for business customers.  I really enjoy working for the company, as (cliche alert) it really feels like we are making a massive difference to people going through troubled times and educating people on mental health issues.

So what's this got to do with the NFL?  Well for a start, there have been numerous cases of mental health issues affecting players.  Ultimately, this can lead to tragedy, and this situation has raised it's head this very season.  I will shortly be writing about this and the issue of mental health in sport.

However, my first dabble at combining my working life with my NFL watching life concerns the amazing story of the Indianapolis Colts and Chuck Pagano.  In our line of work, we are always looking for ways to inspire people and make people think about things in a different way.  The Pagano story certainly inspired me  and his speech to the Colts players after they beat Green Bay was particularly memorable. The below is a short article that I wrote for our company website :

"Aum Business Development Manager Simon Day shares a story that has recently inspired him:

We all want to be inspired.  Some of us are lucky to have a boss who can inspire us.  Others are inspired by friends, family members or even celebrities.  However, it is often difficult to find inspiration.  When we experience stress, it seems impossible to be inspired to overcome situations.One of my guilty pleasures is the sport of American Football.  I have a strong (bordering on unhealthy) passion for the sport and recently I drew inspiration from a story within the NFL.  In September, Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukaemia   He is currently undergoing a 4-6 month recovery programme, and is spending the majority of his time in hospital.  A few weeks after being diagnosed Pagano was allowed to leave hospital to visit his team on a matchday.  His team were widely expected to be one of the worst in the league, but they pulled off a shock victory, with Pagano looking on.  After the game, Pagano went into the changing room and delivered a speech that I found truly inspirational.

Pagano talked about how we all have circumstances, but we shouldn't live with those circumstances. -  We should live with our vision.  “I got circumstances. You guys understand it.  I understand it.  It's already beat.  It's already beat.  My vision that I'm living, see two more daughters getting married, dancing at their weddings”.  I found his quote regarding circumstances particularly poignant.  If a man facing a life threatening illness can think so positively, then surely we can all overcome whatever obstacles are in our way. We all need to have a vision of where we want to be, we may need help getting there but we should all have that vision.

Subsequently, the Colts have gone on a winning run and have played at a level beyond everyone’s expectations.  Pagano meanwhile is on the road to recovery.  It’s a touching story of how inspiration can be a 2 way concept.  Pagano inspired his team, and in turn they are inspiring him.  Furthermore, it's a story that has inspired a great many people all over the world - including me!

Pagano's full speech can be seen here"

Pagano's story is one of the reasons I love sport - it can be uplifting, thought provoking, emotional and memorable all at the same time.  The NFL seems to provide more than it's fair share of such stories, but few are as memorable as that of Pagano.   His message of "living with your vision" is one that we can all take on board, and no matter what is going on in life it's important to have a vision of where we want to be.