It was just another day for Aron Ralston… a preverbal “walk in the park” in Utah’s Blue John Canyon.  Aron was a skilled mountaineer who quit his corporate engineering job to chase his dream of mountain climbing.  He has numerous international climbs under his belt including being the first recorded person to climb all 59 Colorado’s “fourteeners” alone and during the winter.  This achievement is just a warm up for the rest of his life.

Jen, Aron, Lisa, Koni

When I met Aron, he was wearing a navy suit coat and yellow tie, addressing a large audience at a corporate event.  His eyes were sparkling with life, his smile lit up the room, and his right arm was a flat black claw-like appendage.  His story is one I will never forget… Aron self amputated his right arm to save his life during a climbing accident in 2003.

To make his long story short, while Aron was hiking through a canyon, a boulder dislodged and crushed his arm against the canyon wall… pinning him into what he thought would be his final resting place.  After 126 grueling hours, Aron freed himself by breaking the bones in his arm and using his utility knife to cut through any remaining skin.  It was hour 127 when he was rescued by a family of hikers and helicoptered to the nearest hospital.

Aron has several life lessons he teaches with his story of triumph despite the overwhelming odds.  Here is one lesson I took away from our time together…

Commit to persevere – Early on in Aron’s dilemma, he decided that he was going to go the distance… whatever that meant in this situation.  Despite it being an “easy out”, Aron made a conscious decision to not take his own life.  Even though he was literally “standing in his grave”, suicide was not an option.  Talk about perseverance… it was in the 126th hour that Aron finally broke free.   That 126th hour was also the moment he realized the “implementation of that commitment” because he still had to hike 7 miles back to his vehicle.  Just because he was free, his commitment to persevere wasn’t over…

The comments Aron made about not giving up lead me to think about where I’ve neglected to persevere in my life.  My lack of perseverance certainly didn’t even come close to ending in death… but the question arises… what if I had a stronger commitment to a certain situations in my life?  Where would I be today if I had persevered and not taken the easy way out?

Over a span of 5 days, Aron tried cutting away the canyon wall to be able to slide his arm out… he tried forcing the boulder up with his body… he tried using his utility knife to cut through his arm… he rigged a pulley system to lift the boulder… but nothing worked until with his final idea, he leveraged his body weight and snapped the bones in his arm.  How often do we persist in our efforts when nothing has worked so far and then we give up at the 126th hour?  If only we had tried one more thing… persevered one more hour…

Perseverance happens in many areas of our lives.  Being more patient with your children… looking for a new job… getting up in the morning to workout… opening up conversations with your spouse… helping a friend through an addiction… finding a new niche for your business to grow… reconnecting with a sibling or parent…  returning to a life of faith after a tragedy…

Aron’s will to live was stronger than the hold this 800 pound boulder.  Where is your will to living a life at full throttle stronger than any rock standing in your way?  Are you nearing a “126th hour” where you need to try one more thing to break free?  Where do you need to persevere?

Here’s the trailer for his movie… check it out…