Don't Give Up

He grew up poor in a house with no indoor toilet. A childhood battle with spinal meningitis caused hallucinations, severe headaches and a four-year memory gap. Painfully shy, he was bullied by classmates and chastised by teachers.

As a young adult surrounded by poverty, his future looked bleak. He described England in the 1970’s as “a very depressing place ... completely run-down, trash on the streets, total unemployment... if you came from the wrong side of the tracks ... then you had no hope in hell and no career prospects at all.”

To say the odds were stacked against him would be an epic understatement.

But he never gave up. He was drawn to the burgeoning punk rock scene. He wrote simple, blunt lyrics that captured the voice of his generation.

On June 4,1976, he stepped onto a stage in the Manchester Trade Hall. Channeling pent-up anger and prowling the stage with spiked green hair, he electrified audiences with songs like “Anarchy in the UK” and “Pretty Vacant.”  His performance was incendiary.

John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, became a generational voice and leader of the Sex Pistols. The kid who was bullied and laughed at by classmates and chastised by teachers recorded what Rolling Stone call one of the top hundred albums of all time. From the hardcore movement to alternative rock, he inspired decades of future bands.

He was an underdog. The odds were stacked against him. He changed our world.

She grew up in severe poverty in a remote mountain village. As a girl, she was not allowed to go to school and her family could not afford to buy her shoes. She worked as a porter carrying heavy loads up mountains as a teenager. She dreamed of summitting the legendary mountains around her. But as a woman she was forbidden.

As an adult, she worked as a cleaner and dishwasher, raising her children as a single mother far from her beloved slopes. She was the victim of domestic abuse. But she did not let go of her dreams, despite tremendous setbacks and daunting barriers.

In 2000, Lhakpa Sherpa raised money for the first all-Nepali women’s summit of Everest, becoming the first woman Sherpa to summit and safely ascend. She went on to summit Everest ten times, as well as K2, becoming the most accomplished woman Sherpa of all time.

For climbers around the world and Sherpa women, she is a symbol of hope and strength. She faced extraordinary obstacles and setbacks. But she didn’t let go of her dream.

He was the son of sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta. From the beginning, he faced staggering adversity.

His parents separated when he was four. His mother died when he was nine. He lived briefly with his grandmother, but she died a year later. He faced poverty, hunger, homelessness and discrimination.

He had a deep passion for music. He was inspired by the choirs he heard in church and later by blues musicians like Howling Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. It spoke to his soul. He saved enough money to buy a guitar and began playing on street corners as a ten-year-old for dimes.

In the early 1950’s, he got his big break on a Memphis radio station. His music became synonymous with the blues, a blend of raw vulnerability, elegant phrasing, and unmistakable soul. Today, his songs are revered as universal, timeless expressions of heartache and longing, of resilience and dignity.

B. B. King faced unimaginable odds. He persevered. And he created music that inspires and heals people around the world.

She was an unemployed single mother living on state assistance. She was depressed. She had a vision, a story in her soul. She wouldn’t be deterred.

For five years, she sketched out her story on scraps of paper and an old manual typewriter. She worked in cafés, her daughter sleeping in a stroller beside her. Her first manuscript was rejected by twelve publishers. The thirteenth published it.

JK Rowling became the most successful literary author of all time, reinvigorating the Children’s and Young Adult Fantasy category, inspiring other writers.

Rowling shifted the power balance between publishers and authors. She maintained creative control over movie adaptations of her books, pioneered new approaches to film and merchandising rights and explored new digital models for authors.

She was an underdog. The world counted her out. Today her books bring joy to millions.

Lydon. Lhakpa Sherpa. King. Rowling. Most of us have not experienced the dramatic obstacles they faced. Or reached the epic heights that they did.

But most of us have experienced being the underdog. Of being counted out or disregarded. Of facing daunting setbacks and obstacles. Of doubting our vision or abilities. Of feeling lost.

Their stories offer us inspiration.

Don’t give up. Do not deprive the world of your unique voice or vision. Believe in yourself, even when others doubt you. Tell the story in your soul.