I was too young to understand the technical terms of my learning challenges. No eight-year-old kid understands what dyslexia, ADD, ADHD and reading comprehension challenges are. But I knew, even back then, that something was wrong. I remember when my third-grade teacher, Ms. Washburn, would ask our class to do “round robin reading.” That petrified me. When it came my turn to read my sentence aloud in front of my classmates, my hands got clammy and a knot grew in my stomach, as I would stutter my way through. I hated to read. I hated to write. And even though my father was a middle school English teacher, I hated that subject more than anything.
Then one day, something happened that planted a seed in me that germinated for thirty years before it decided to bloom.
The principal of Viola Elementary School, the late Mr. Paul Finch, invited a children’s book author, Jean Craighead George, to come speak to our entire school. And my third-grade class all read Ms. George’s bestselling book, My Side of the Mountain.
My Side of the Mountain was the first book I’d ever read cover to cover. And to this day, it’s my favorite book of all time. It was about a boy, Sam Gribley, who was terribly unhappy living in New York City, runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live off the land. With a tree as his home and a falcon named Frightful as his hunting partner, Sam relies on his own ingenuity and the resources of the great outdoors to survive. I could not put this book down. I dreamed of what it would be like to join Sam Gribley and live off the land with him.
I will never forget the day Jean Craighead George came to our school. Ms. George has authored more than one hundred books for young people. She received the Newbery Award for My Side of the Mountain, and it was adapted into a major motion film. Jean Craighead George was the first “famous” person I ever met. I hung onto every word she shared with Viola Elementary School that morning.
After Ms. George’s talk, she invited students to come up and speak with her (and say hello to her pet hawk that she brought with her). I didn’t care about meeting the hawk, I wanted to shake hands with a famous author.
When it came my turn to approach Ms. George, I was so nervous and excited all at the same time. And when I told her how much I loved My Side of the Mountain, she quickly replied, “Well perhaps, young man, you will write a book one day.” I quickly responded, “I can barely read a book, Ms. George, let alone write a book.”
And then Jean Craighead George said something to me that I will never forget. “Everyone has a superpower. You just have to find yours.”
“Everyone has a superpower. You just have to find yours.“
I’ve been thinking about those ten words for the past forty-six years. I never imagined that nearly five decades later, I would have written three New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today national bestselling books. Jean Craighead George was right, everyone has a superpower. We just have to find it within ourselves.
We are all born with deficits, shortcomings, challenges, and obstacles. Mine were (are) dyslexia, ADD, ADHD and reading comprehension. Along with being OCD, anxious, and high-strung. When I was in elementary school, I even had a small lisp. It took a year of speech pathology – putting a raisin in my mouth and training my tongue to hold the raisin against the roof of my mouth – to overcome my speech impediment. We all have shortcomings. All of us.
But we also all have superpowers. Not flying like a bird or hulk-like strength or casting a spider web from our veins. But real superpowers. Things we are best in the world in. Things that we do better than anyone else.
It took me most of my life to identify what my superpowers are. What I am best in the world at. What I do better than anyone on the planet.
Sadly, I believe that most of us – perhaps ninety percent of the world – live our entire lives never tapping into or identifying our superpowers. We spend our entire lives focused on our deficits, shortcomings, challenges, and obstacles. And we fail to unleash our hidden talents…and find our superpowers.
I’ve been told thousands of times that I am one of the best communicators in the world. Few people on the planet can tell a story like I can – move people to laugh and cry – and inspire them to love and serve in a deeper and more authentic way. It is my superpower. And I feel incredibly blessed that Jean Craighead George planted a seed in my heart forty-six years ago that not only changed my life, but millions of other lives.
What is your Superpower? You have one. We all have one. It is good to recognize our shortcomings. God gives us these challenges to us to teach us humility, grit, and tenacity. But we are also given a power within us – a skill, a talent, a quality – that we are best in the world at. And once we tap into our superpower, we can profoundly change the lives of others. We don’t need to shoot spider webs from our veins or leap from tall buildings to make a difference in the world. But we do need to surround ourselves with people that can help us tap into our greatness. And we may even need to put a raisin in our mouth every day for a year to find our hidden talent.
Everyone has a superpower. You just have to find yours.