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Hopefully that inspires other people, even without injuries, to go out there and to really charge it
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Hi, my name's Tommy Cunahan. I'm 28 years old. I'm from Palm Beach, Florida, and I've been traveling for about five years now
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What is your purpose? This is something that I think a lot of people struggle with in life, and I'm no stranger to that
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I have found mine over the past couple of years, basically because of something really traumatic that happened to me
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I was in the U.S. Army as a combat engineer, so my job was to look for roadside bombs
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And seven months into my deployment to Afghanistan, we drove over a pressure plate that set off an IED that ultimately resulted in me amputating my right leg below the knee
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I went to a really dark place because of that and struggled for a long time with depression
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but I started finding myself again when I realized I was the one that was holding myself back
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thinking that I wasn't going to be able to do any of the things I loved anymore
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And so I got back into surfing, scuba diving, many other types of extreme sports that I did as a kid
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as a way to show myself that I am the one holding me
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back. I was telling myself no more than anybody else was. And once I overcame that, I still had this sense of
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I need to figure out what to do with my life from this point now that I'm finally happy again
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And I kind of just threw myself head first into giving back to the adaptive community particularly combat wounded veterans and started volunteering with organizations just because I had the spare time to show them what you capable of after these traumatic experiences
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happen to you. And over the past couple of years, I've gotten involved with some amazing
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organizations that have really pushed the boundaries of what most people think the human mind and
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body are capable of. And that has just become my mind. purpose wholeheartedly. I just absolutely love it when I see that aha moment. You see the light
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turn back in someone's eyes when you show them like, hey, maybe I'm not going to be able to teach
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you how to surf like me, but I can teach you to surf like you. And it's a beautiful thing. I really
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think that it's helped me in my recovery. And I think that's the pinnacle of recovery. Recovery is a
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lifelong process. I'm never going to really consider myself fully recovered from the physical
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and the mental trauma that I went through because of that experience. But out there helping other
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people to achieve their own form of success has just brought me to a place so high that I never
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even dreamed of soaring to. And hopefully that inspires other people, even without injuries
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to go out there and to really charge it, to go full send and live their life to the max
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because we've only got one. And so I just want to help other people live it to the max
