Back in 1960, a man named Anthony Burgess was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He was given one year to live. Faced with the inevitable existential questions, Burgess asked himself: What have I always wanted to do, but have never tried? What else can I do to help my with my wife’s future?
Burgess had always had a burning desire to write novels. Filled with self doubt,all his life, he had told himself “I’ll do it later, when I’m older”. But now, the concept of “later” had changed. If he gave himself the chance to write, there could also be another potential benefit. If published, his wife would get royalties from that novel after he passed away.
Now, more than ever, Burgess felt a burning need to write. With no certainly that he would ever be published, he put paper on the typewriter and began to write. He wrote and wrote and wrote.
He wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote. A year went by and Burgess did not die. Cancer had gone into remission and the tumour disappeared. In one year, he managed to finish five and a half novels.
In his long life as a novelist, he wrote more than 70 books Without a “death sentence†he may have never written at all.
So many of us, like Anthony Burgess carry greatness inside. We carry untapped potential, always waiting for someone or something to bring it out.
If you had just a year to live, how would you live it? What would you change? What great potential in you is waiting to be untapped? What will you do today to unleash that beautiful gift ?
I invite you to look at the fall Programs.
Your partner in growth,
Karinna Najera