7 Times Paralympian Blake Leeper Totally Demolished Your Excuses
By Levi Harris
Originally posted on The Bloq
They told him he wouldn’t walk so he ran instead.
Blake Leeper wants to be the fastest man on the planet — only he has no legs. In Blake’s mind, being a bilateral, below-the-knee amputee isn’t a curse, it’s a gift. From a very young age he’s shattered the expectations put on him by society and is currently preparing to be the world’s first double amputee to qualify for the Olympics. We were fortunate enough to have Blake stop by the Inside Quest studios to film an episode. We didn’t know what to expect when he arrived, and in typical Blake fashion, he completely blew us away with his incredibly inspiring perspective. These are just a few choice nuggets of wisdom from Blake that we felt compelled to share with the world. Take a look below, change your outlook on life and leave a comment letting us know your favorite (if you can choose just one, that is).
1. ON ABILITIES VS DISABILITIES
“The bad and the ugly in life is preparing us for our biggest mission. All the times I got laughed at, pointed at, picked last, fell down, my legs fell off, it was just preparing me for this life I couldn’t even imagine back then. And I’m thankful because at the end of the day it could be way worse. Yes, I’m missing my legs. Yes, I have two disabilities, but I have a thousand other abilities that make me who I am as a person. So I want to go out there, no excuses, and show the world what you can do with the talents that you have, legs or no legs.”
2. ON OWNING YOUR IDENTITY
“If I start my day complaining about how bad my life is or how things aren’t working and how it sucks to be missing legs, I would be sitting there drinking my cup of coffee and complaining until the sun goes down. But that’s just my 10%. I still have 90% to show the world what I truly can do. I still put a smile on my face, walk out the door with my legs and take on whatever life throws at me. But we as humans sometimes get caught up in what really doesn’t matter. When you look at yourself in the mirror and say, ‘These are my flaws and all. This is who I am.’ That’s when you start taking control of life. When you can laugh at yourself and you can say, ‘You know what? Yeah, I am missing my legs. You know what? I am short, I am tall, I am this, I am that, and accept that because it’s only 10% of who we are, but you still have 90% to show the world what you truly can do. And if you can grasp on to that concept, nothing can stop you.”
3. ON MAKING YOUR OWN REALITY
“I look at my life and the day I was born, the doctor said I would never walk. To be born missing one leg, congenitally, with everything else normal is one in a million. To be born missing two legs is unheard of. The doctors didn’t know what to do. So statistically, I shouldn’t be here right now, I shouldn’t be running, I shouldn’t be competing, I shouldn’t be winning medals. But I’m not going on facts, I’m going off hard work, and determination. I’m going off will power. When you set your life in trying to break barriers nobody has ever broken, you can’t go off the numbers. I’m trying to do something nobody has ever done before. So I can’t look back and compare myself to anybody, I just have to look forward. And with that type of mindset, the only way I know I’m doing enough is if I give it all I’ve got. I’ve got to leave the track hurting. I’ve got to finish the work out basically throwing up. I’ve got to leave the track to the point where I have to pop my legs off and crawl to my car. My biggest disability isn’t the fact that I’m missing my legs. My biggest disability is the fact what people think I cannot do because I’m missing my legs. I’ve been building my whole life proving that just because I’m missing my legs doesn’t define who I am. Just because I’m missing my legs doesn’t mean I can’t be the fastest man in the world. Who told me I couldn’t? I’m setting these boundaries not only for me but for the kids growing up.”
4. ON NOT TAKING THE EASY ROAD
“As a kid my dad pulled me aside one day and told me, “Blake, I can’t coach you anymore. I have to let this new guy coach you. He knows you but there might be times where he feels sorry for you and he’s gonna ask you not to run that extra lap, or that extra suicide.” I was nine years old. So I didn’t really comprehending that I’m different. And lo and behold, that next week on our first practice we get to running the suicides at the end. And everybody is getting tired, and the coach stopped and called me out in front of everybody. “Blake, you don’t have to run this last one.” And I looked around and I was like, I don’t get it. As a kid I should have been like, “Woohoo, cool, I ain’t gonna run the last one.” But I thought back to what my father told me, days before. And as soon as the coach wanted to give me the easy way out, I said, “No, I’m going to finish just like everybody else.” I’m going to run just as hard as everybody else because if I don’t I won’t be able to get anything done in life. I’m always going to take the easy way out. And what kind of character building is that? If I’m always taking the easy road, what kind of life skills are you building if you’re always quitting first, or you’re always sitting down first?”
5. ON NEVER SETTLING FOR AVERAGE
“Growing up, thank goodness, I had great legs. And for me to live a fulfilled life, my parents said, “Okay, if Blake is going to live an active life, we’re going to give him the best legs that he can use.” I was in elementary school going into middle school and I came home with my report card. I got all C’s. So when I showed my dad and mom the report card I’m like, “Yeah, C’s are cool. It means you’re average right? I’m average. I’m an average kid. I’m a normal, average kid.” So my dad said, “Okay. You’re average, huh? Okay, we can get you some average clothes, right? If It doesn’t bother you we can go get you some average legs.” And once he said that I was like, “Oh, crap.” I knew if I had average legs I wouldn’t be able to do the things that I’m doing. I knew if I had average legs or C+ legs, I wouldn’t be able to run, jump, or play. So it put in perspective for me that I cannot live an average life. I have to be above average, if I just want to live a normal life, if I just want to live an average life. I can’t complain because it goes back to complaining and being like, “Man, it’s no fair I have to work twice as hard just to be in the pack. It’s not fair I have to work twice as hard.” But life isn’t fair.”
6. ON MAKING YOURSELF UNCOMFORTABLE
“I thought about the greatest feeling in the world and it’s when I’m on that last rep of the 300 and I’ve got to convince my body where it feels like I cannot go any further, to go a little bit harder. And when I do that, I conquer that moment. I challenge it, and I defeat it, in that moment. And nobody can take that away from me. Nobody sees that I was having an internal battle with myself, my mind and my body. When my body was telling me, “I can’t. I can’t do this.” I heard that my whole life. If I can beat that, if I can fight whatever’s thrown at me, I’m a fighter. That’s why I love running. That’s why I love pushing the limits. I love being in uncomfortable positions because that’s when you find out what your talents are, what you’re good at, what you’re bad at and what makes you feel uncomfortable.”
7. ON FEAR
“When it comes to fear, one of my mentors broke it down for me. He said, ‘You have two types of people: The Forget Everything And Run, F-E-A-R people. But you want to be the second type of person. When you see fear you Face Everything And Rise.’ Every time I’m afraid of something, or something scares me, I want to face it head on. I want to go toe-to-toe with it. And whether I win or lose because sometimes you’re going to lose. If I was to wake up, and say, ‘I’m just going to sit in my wheelchair today. I’m going to sit on the couch. I’m just going to collect a check from the government.’ Society expects that, right? And even though I’m not bothering anybody, I’m not living if I do that. God did not put me on this earth to sit aside. And the time is now. We’ve been through it all. We’ve dealt with a lot of things. The time is now. We’ve got to look at ourselves and say, ‘No excuses.’ We all deal with demons. Everybody does. Everybody has problems. But when you can conquer those problems and say, ‘I have a problem, I’m going to face it and rise.’ Then that’s when you can get things done.”
Watch the full episode here:
