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By JONI
STRANDQUEST Zipping
around in a wheelchair across the floor of his Sandy Springs home,
Michael McKeller is a man in control. With telephone in hand,
concluding a call to have the chair lift on his van repaired, he
offered me a cold beverage to quench my thirst. I was suddenly taken aback and felt myself blush. Here I was, a stranger in this 34-year-old man's residence, and he invites me to make myself right at home by plundering through his refrigerator. But,
I should have known to expect the unexpected. The true strangers in
Mike McKeller's life are few. His physical state parlays an
immediate icebreaking conversation. Paralyzed
since the age of fifteen, after surgery for scoliosis, Mike went
through rehabilitation and has regained limited use of 40 percent of
his body. He
graduated from college, became a financial planner, and spent years
as an entrepreneur in the telemarketing and printing fields before
launching his latest endeavors. Mike
now enjoys life as a public speaker. And he has created a show
concept "Extreme Mike," a series television show presently
in negotiations with various cable television companies. The first
episode of the series aired in the spring on PBS. The
reaction has been positive. "I'm bottom-of-the barrel
physically in comparison to the general population," Mike said.
"I do things that 95 percent of the population won't even
try." As
"Extreme Mike," he lives life by overcoming fear -
operating outside what most of us consider our comfort zone. Mike
stares the unknown in the face, analyzes information and enrolls
other people in his mission. Maybe
his amazing attitude is nature, nurture, or the result of living
life as an invalid for many years and developing a deep trust in
humanity. He experiences things most of us only dream of doing --
jumping out of airplanes, scuba diving, and flying stunt planes. Frequently
Mike hears people say, "You'd never catch me doing that."
But his philosophy is that adventure and overcoming fear is like
eating sushi. "Once you try it, you find it's really
good." Mike
believes people are held back by their own fears. But by breaking
down a goal into small pieces - and analyzing what exactly the fear
is about, it can be overcome and conquered. Going from the point of
fear to the point of understanding is a reward worth having. So
how did this catharsis come about? It all began with learning to
scuba dive. They
invented the process as they went along; assuring safety was a prime
concern. "My risk was minimized, therefore my fear was
minimized," Mike said. He
received his scuba diving certification five years ago. The path
towards achieving this goal helped him realize there were many other
things in life he was afraid of -- things that would bring him joy
and satisfaction. One by one, he is hacking away at these fears. "Making
commitments and decisions are difficult," Mike said. " But
once made, the rest is just logistics. I've learned not to dwell on
possibilities because everything falls into place.” Mike
is from a family of high-achievers. "Once my family realized I
was committed to do something, they were 100 percent behind
me." Mike said. "I have gotten hurt. But the rewards for
achieving what I set out to do are priceless.” "Some
people don't see the correlation between actions and outcome,"
Mike said. "I learned very young that the benefit almost always
outweighs the cost of getting there." Mike believes he was never given the option of giving less than his full effort. "The positive reinforcement was ingrained in me," Mike smiled. "I'm the result of that blueprint. When you're young and see that, it becomes second nature." Contact Information: Michael McKeller - mike@extrememike.com or Snail Mail us
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