Three things....

 For the vast majority of people, this has been THE MOST trying year of a lifetime.

We all seemingly have a 'right' to gripe, moan, suffer self pity, play "ain't it awful", yada.  

Then you look around.  Friends, loved ones. Loss.  Loss of parent(s).  Loss of mate.  Loss of loved one.  Loss of good friends.  A life changing event.  It makes me, at least, feel sheepish for the above "woe is me" attitude.

Jim Valvano was a basketball coach.  A good one.  A dynamic one.  In 1983 he took what had been a very average North Carolina State team to the NCAA basketball tournament where they ran past EVERY single opponent, culminating with the National Championship over a heavily favored Houston Cougar team that included several future NBA players.

After his successful coaching career he went on to become a basketball analyst teaming with partner Dick Vitale - a partnership overflowing with exuberance.

In June of 1992 at the age of 46, Jimmy was diagnosed with metastatic adenocarcinoma, a glandular cancer - a type of cancer that spread to the bones.

In February of 1993, during the ten year reunion of the Championship team, he gave a dynamic "Don't Give Up, Don't Ever Give Up" speech in which he spoke to the importance of hope, love and persistence.

Eleven days later, he was to receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at ESPN's ESPY Awards. He swore, when originally diagnosed, he was going to battle, fight, never give up.

When the night came to receive his award, Jim had dropped 35 pounds and was taking 24 tablets a day of Advil to get through the day.  He spoke to the Dick, told him he was sick as a dog, and didn't think he could do the speech, acceptance that night.  Dick talked him into trying.  He did, and man did he ever.  The speech has become legendary. The link to the legendary speech is below and I encourage you to see it.

To all of us, especially those dealing with horrific lifetime events - Jim speaks of Three Things to do every day:

"To me, there are three things we all should do every day.  We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh.  You should laugh every day.  Number two is think.  You should spend some time in thought.  And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy.  But think about it. If you laugh, you think and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day.  You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special."

The night of Jim's speech, he established "the V Foundation", to raise funds to fight cancer.  Since his speech that night, over $200 million has been raised.

Sadly, Jimmy passed away nine weeks after the speech. Jim practiced what he preached and he lived every day with exuberance.   With hope, love and persistence...  and doing the three things daily..   Laughing. Thinking.  Crying.

Love and hugs to all, with an extra hug for those going through extremely trying events.

(To watch, plz copy and paste, thanks)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHKzH6zR8xE