From pain comes strength.

Over lunch yesterday I was watching Disney+

(We’ve got a 4yo who’s obsessed, OBSESSED, with Frozen. It’s a Disney movie. We’d have a very unhappy lil’ lady if we didn’t get Disney+)

Specifically, I was watching a doco about Wolfgang Puck.

Who the fudge is Wolfgang Puck?

Well,

Do you have a favorite chef?

Jamie Oliver (is he still popular?), Curtis Stone, Matt Moran, Maggie Beer, Pete Evens (the nutbag)?

Maybe it’s an online Chef?

Either way,

These days it’s cool to be a celebrity chef.

Wolfgang Puck was the first celebrity chef.

Before him being a chef was a blue collar job and no one knew the chef in a good restaurant or cared for them. They knew the owner, but not the chef.

Wolfgang changed all of that.

He gave chefs a platform, an aura and a celebrity appeal.

And became a legend in the meantime. His restaurants are some of the best in the world.

Did he do a good thing?

Not always (Pete Evens has great cookbooks but he’s a couple cans short of a six pack and should not be giving health advice. The TGA agreed and fined him 80K last year for recommending a blue light emitting device for treating the “Wuhan Flu”)

But cooking is not what I’m here to talk to you about today.

What…?

No clever link between nutty chefs and GAMSAT?

No, my fine feathered friend.

Today we talk about how some people create Greatness.

I think we can agree that Wolfgang achieved greatness in his field.

Also,

Oprah achieved greatness in her field.

As did Will Smith, the Hollywood actor.

As did Dr Dre, the Billionaire rapper.

And Frank Lowy of Westfield fame.

What do they all have in common other than achieving great things, inspiring millions, and changing the world?

They had traumatic childhoods and/or grew up poor.

They used their suffering to create Greatness.

Wolfgang was abused by his stepfather.

Orpah’s childhood trauma’s are well known.

Will Smith grew up in a home with physical violence

Dr Dre was in crack infested Compton in California.

Frank Lowy survived Nazi attrocities in WWII.

And this list could be much, much longer.

But I think you get the picture.

If you asked them, they would probably say (and I know for sure with a few of them because I’ve read their biographies) that…

Those painful experiences taught them lessons and gave them a drive to succeed that they may not have had otherwise.

From pain, came strength.

Am I condoning trauma and abuse? Or glorifying it? Of course not.

I’m reframing it so that you can move forward and thrive despite it.

More:

Think of your favourite superhero.

The Wolverine.

Spiderman.

Captain America.

Wonder Woman.

They developed superpowers after something terrible, painful and traumatic happened to them.

Spider bite, weird experiment, radiation poisoning…

This isn’t an accident.

There’s a deeper, purposeful reason as to why these inspirational characters aquired these powers from their hardest times.

People talk about how tough their lives are right now. How rough their childhood was. How traumatising things are or were. How hard life is for them. And all of this is most likely true. I don’t doubt it for most people.

And in the moment it can be debilitating for many.

In the moment, it can be intense and overwhelmingly difficult.

But what are you going to do about it?

What if you could turn it into your biggest strength?

You’re biggest motivating factor?

My parents came to Australia as political refugees. I was 4yo at the time.

(No Disney+ for Little Refugee Dr T)

We lived in a tent in an Austrian park for a while.

Then we lived in a refugee camp.

My parents went through humiliating experiences just to get a visa.

Then had to pay for their own airfare (in the 1908s when flying was restrictively expensive for wealthy westerners) as refugees who didn’t speak the language.

And when we arrived, I grew up poor in a heroin infested part of Sydney.

It was hard.

It was traumatic.

But,

It gave me a drive to succeed that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

So what I’m saying is…

Use it.

If you’ve had hard times, or you’re having them now, use it to push you forward.

As Eminem says,

“Look

Or just let it slip?”

(I’ve got chills just writing that out)

Use it to do good.

Instead of losing yourself in the music, Eminem style, lose yourself in the study.

So, question is…

Will you use the pain as a reason to suffer, or as a reason to thrive?

It’s up to you.

If you’re ready to use it for good and want to know how to apply it to the GAMSAT and becoming a doctor, then talk to Emily on a complimentary tutoring session.

She will show you how to turn your life around, how to study for the GAMSAT while managing your schedule, and giving yourself the best shot at the GAMSAT you’ve ever had.

Because like Eminem said,

GAMSAT is your “One shot, Or one opportunity, To seize everything you ever wanted, In one moment, Would you capture it, Or just let it slip?”

You got this,

Dr “Lose Yourself” Tom

P.S. If you haven’t, listen to Eminem’s song “Lose Yourself” with the lyrics.

Sing it, scream it, feel it.

Use it.