Rick Hansen has used the insight he gained from his Man in
Motion World Tour, an around-the-world wheelchair marathon totaling
over 40,000km and raising $24 million for spinal cord injury research,
rehabilitation, and prevention, for a self-help book on coping with
personal change.
Co-authored with psychologist Joan Laub, Going the Distance offers a
unique blend of the personal experiences of someone who has suffered
monumental change and someone who has actually done research on change
itself.
Arguing that people fear change because they lack the tools and skills
to manage it, the authors explain the important principles which
actually allow people to manage the changes they face in their daily
lives. And, unlike other self-help literature, Going the Distance
demonstrates how emotions like fear; depression, anger or guilt can
actually be used to inspire positive action.
Hansen and Laub have put together a step-by-step process of managing
change that can be easily applied to anyone's life. Simple exercises
and tests will help readers assess their own progress. Rick Hansen's
personal experiences, in particular his adjustment to life in a
wheelchair and his inspiring 24,000-mile odyssey, provides many of the
illustrations.