Snake Bite Perseverance

Mike Posner shares how he responded to a life-threatening rattlesnake bite during his walk across America.

"I got bit by a poisonous rattlesnake. I spent 3 nights in the ICU, got airlifted. Dispatch told me I might not live. Doctors told me it might take 8 months to heal, other doctors said I might lose my foot.

And I did a crazy thing - I went back. I kept going. Everyone expected me to quit, probably because the old me was such a bitch. My whole life was about me and being comfortable. So I decided to do the opposite. I'm not going to use this injury as an excuse to do less, I'm going to use it as an excuse to do more.

Yeah, I get to do podcasts and talk about it, and this thing is on my Wikipedia page, but the real trophy is I became someone new. That part of me is so different - having an inkling you're strong versus knowing you're strong because you were strong. I was strong in a way I hadn't been before."