Speaking

Zirk Botha : Brain Trauma Survivor : Change Engineer

It is not about how good you are, but rather about how great you potentially could be! 
On the 15th of December 2002, I was marking a route for an Adventure Race to be hosted in the mountains close to Cape Town. Just after 11pm, the 4×4 that we were travelling in got stuck in a mud hole. Working against time, I rigged a rope around a tree and the 4×4’s recovery strop. Using a 1,5 meter metal bar I wound the rope to generate pull to tow it out of the mud. Yes, we do stupid things when we’re under pressure!

With too much “strain” on the rope, the metal bar ripped out of my hands and hit me on the left side of my face, catapulting me about 3meters into the air. My left cheek, eye socket and temporal lobe were instantly smashed into hundreds of tiny bone fragments. We were in the middle of the forest with no way to explain to rescue personnel how to get to us, it was therefore up to us to get to them.

We stumbled across rocks and tree trunks for 35 minutes before a police vehicle found us, another 15 minutes later I was in the back of an ambulance to be transported to the Somerset West Medi Clinic, about an hour’s drive away. After 6 hours of reconstructive surgery enough of my facial structure was in place to facilitate the natural healing process.

Nobody told me what I should expect owing to the effects of brain trauma. This was where the real challenge started! Over the course of the following 5 years I was faced with a total inability to focus on anything for more than 3 hours. Suffering from severe mood swings and suddenly becoming an extremely emotional person added a further dimension to being subjected to losing my house and car. This was owing to not being able to meet my monthly financial commitments. The downward spiral I faced included total lack of self-confidence and finally bottomed out with severe depression.

It took two years to realise that I was the only person that could help myself out of the mess that I was in. It took the next three years to teach myself to believe in myself again, how to be motivated. Most importantly, it took this time for me to find my life purpose.

It is these principles I relied upon in getting my life back, that I have used in compiling my Keynote Topics:

Enter the Zone,

Own your Empowerment,  and

Just do Something

Download a 12 MB Keynote Profile here or visit ZirkBotha.com