The Greatest Challenges Yield the Greatest Rewards

The following is adapted from Thank You, Cancer.

I’m not exactly known for listening to doctors. Don’t get me wrong, doctors have saved my life and given me incredible care through one of the hardest times anyone could go through. But some of them have also told me things like “you have one to ten years to live” and “you won’t be able to work out during chemo.” I couldn’t just take their word for it.

However, when one of my doctors saw what I was going through and said, “Logan, you should write a book,” I listened.

When I was nineteen, in one moment my whole world changed. I went from high school athlete and college freshman to stage IV glioblastoma patient overnight. I was told to give up on life, on my entrepreneurial dreams… I even lost my girlfriend.

The thing is, my life changed for the better just as quickly. It’s strange, but the people who doubted me in my life inspired me. My setbacks motivated me to keep going, regardless of what happened.

Nelson Mandela famously said, “It always seems impossible until it’s done,” and it’s true. There is literally no way I could have imagined the obstacles that were ahead of me. There were times when I didn’t know how I would get past them. Now that it’s done, I’m just grateful.

Writing a book about my experiences was a challenge. It made me uncomfortable in so many ways. I had to see my story laid out from top to bottom. I had to wrestle with impostor syndrome and wonder whether I had anything worth sharing.

When I got to the end, I wrote a letter addressed to cancer. I thought about everything we’d been through together and what I’d learned along the way. I imagined myself stopping the fight, not running anymore, and just turning around to shake cancer’s hand and say thank you for the way it changed my life.

If you’re reading this article and you’re struggling with something — whether you’ve come here through my fitness channels and you’re working on your body, or you’re facing cancer or any other obstacle — you have everything you need to overcome it, right there inside of you. I’ve learned that none of the people who told me, “You can’t” were ever my obstacle. Really, we make our own limitations.

Think about it. When we’re ready to lose weight, if we don’t see results after a week, we start to fall off. We tell ourselves that we’re failing or that this isn’t going to go well. We compare ourselves to other people, hang on to our past, and feed on the negative energy.

Instead, I invite you to use your obstacles as fuel for your self-belief. In fact, as you’re reading my story and thinking about your own life, see if you can find a way to actually thank that obstacle or struggle.

Think of it this way: Could you write a letter to your weight, your debt, or your business? Could you thank it for making you grow? Can you find room to become happier, to enjoy the present, and to face the fear and doubt that has held you back?

Let’s do that together. Let’s find the energy, inspiration, and power to stop saying f*** you and start saying thank you to the stuff in our way.

Thank you for letting me share my story with you. Thank you for taking me along on your journey as you face your own impossible situation. Thank you for giving me some of your precious, beautiful time, and for investing it all into the better you that you’re creating every day.

Remember, it only seems impossible until it’s done.

For more advice on achieving the impossible, you can find Thank You, Cancer on Amazon.

Logan Sneed is a brain cancer survivor and entrepreneur whose online business generated a six-figure income before his 21st birthday. A stage-4 cancer diagnosis didn’t derail Logan’s desire to reinvent himself every day and pursue the dreams he wasn’t ready to give up. Today, Logan is an inspirational public speaker, social media influencer, ketogenic diet expert, and a best-self coach with a passion for personal transformation. To learn more or connect with Logan, visit LoganSneed.com.