Professor Stephen Hawking is a British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. He is regarded as the second most successful scientist in the 21st century after Albert Einstein. The heart-touching story of Stephen Hawking is one that demonstrates practically that “it is your choice, not your circumstance, that determines your success in everything.”

Born on 8th January, 1942, in Oxford, England, Stephen Hawking attended Oxford University, where he read physics, although his father wanted him to read medicine. After three years, he was awarded a bachelor’s degree in natural science. Hawking went to Cambridge University to do his research work (further studies) in cosmology since this program was not available at Oxford University at the time.

During the first year at Cambridge University, Hawking was diagnosed with a very dangerous incurable disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a form of motor neuron disease, in 1963. He was just 21 years old by then. Doctors told him he had less than five years to live. People diagnosed with ALS usually die two to five years later due to its extreme danger. This disease causes the body to completely paralyze and robs the person of the ability to talk, hold objects, feed himself, and get in and out of a bed. Death inevitably follows all these symptoms within a few years.

Before 1974, he was able to feed himself and get in and out of bed although he was completely paralyzed as a result of the disease. Things were getting worse with each passing year. Only a few people familiar with him could understand his slurred speech. At least he could still communicate, so he wrote scientific papers by dictating to a secretary and gave seminars through an interpreter who repeated his words.

By 1985, he had lost his ability to speak completely after undergoing a medical operation in an attempt to address his health problem. For the first time in his life, the only way he could communicate was to spell the word letter by letter by raising his eyebrows when someone pointed to the right letter on a spelling card. Even in this condition, when many people thought it was the end of his scientific work, Hawking continued to do his research and made presentations to people in different countries. To make his work easier, a computer expert in California and Cambridge University assisted him with a speech-generating device. He used this speech-generating device with a software program as his electronic voice, allowing him to select his words by moving muscles in his cheek.

 His disability never stopped him from accomplishing his dreams. Hawking remarked in his autobiography that “my scientific reputation increased at the same time my disability got worse.” The ALS has put him in a wheelchair, unable to walk and even talk for practically all his adult life, yet it has not prevented him from becoming the greatest living scientist in the world. He has made groundbreaking discoveries and contributions to modern science on issues relating to the universe. He has won several awards for his scientific contributions. He has written many books, and one of his books, “A Brief History of Time,” which teaches readers about the mystery of the universe, stayed on the British Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.

    My dear reader, Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with this same disease at the age of 21 that killed people within 2 to 5 years, but he is now over 73 years old. Why has Hawking lived so long with this disease and achieved so much in his life when so many people die a few years after diagnosis? The real secret is that Stephen Hawking, unlike many others, had a dream and had a burning desire to live and see his dreams accomplished. He never accepted the script handed over to him by that he had a limited number of five years or less to live. The desire to live is what kept him until he passed away on 14 March 2018, at the age of 76, which baffled the minds of doctors and scientists all over the world.

You can overcome any handicap and succeed in anything if you have a burning desire for success. Whether it’s a learning handicap, physical handicap, or social handicap, you can always overcome it and succeed. As I said earlier, it is not your circumstance but what you choose to do in the circumstances you find yourself in that matters most. For every circumstance you find yourself in, there are endless possibilities of choices, and each choice has the capability to make you a winner or a loser in life. Stephen Hawking had a handicap that would have been used by many people as an excellent excuse to give up and choose the path of the ordinary, but he never chose that. He never used his disability as an excuse for not taking action on his dream of becoming a scientist. All his greatest achievements were accomplished whilst being completely paralyzed. Stop giving excuses and step out to take action on the very things you have been procrastinating on. Demonstrate love and passion for the things you want to get out of life, and take action now with a great desire to have them. This will mark the beginning of many great things in your life.