What’s adult rehab, you said? It’s one of the major classes for my occupational therapy (OT) Master’s program. We are currently learning about spinal cord injury (SCI). Who else can be more qualified to educate us, future OTs, in this department than someone who experienced SCI firsthand? So, our professor invited the one and only Nate Higgins to be our guest speaker of the week.

What does this OT-orientated lecture has anything to do with you? Well, Nate taught me more than just how to be a good therapist. He taught me how to be a better and stronger person. If you’re like me still in college, or maybe you’re just feeling a bit lost in life, I hope these lessons I learned from Nate will shed some light on your path.

On the day of the lecture, a blue-eyed man in a crisp-white shirt and a black vest rolled into the classroom on his super cool “mountain bike” wheelchair. Apparently, this is the guest speaker my professor told us about – Nate Higgins. He emits such an unexpected powerful and confident energy that I couldn’t stop watching him. After taking copious amount of notes during the lecture, I decided I want to share what I learned from Nate. I followed up with him.

Following are my “email-interview” with him and the things I learned from his lecture.

Who’s Nate Higgins?

On July 7, 2004 the 19-year-old athletic Nate fell off from a roof while working as a painter. The fall resulted in a brain injury as well as a T4 complete spinal cord injury. Luckily, Nate soon recovered from the brain injury and didn’t suffer much loss from it. However, the SCI left him unable to ever walk again. The rehabilitation process wasn’t easy. Nate wasn’t always as ready for challenges as he has become now. He was upset; he felt desperate; he almost gave up. But he didn’t. He made a resolution, when New Year’s Eve rolled around – “I was going to win.” He decided to win the battle of life.

Following the injury, Nate obtained bachelor’s degree and two masters’. He worked full-time, even during his school years. Even more impressively, despite the medical challenges (i.e., unable to move his legs or control his trunk), Nate decided to start swimming again and made great accomplishments.

Me: According to my research, you graduated from Gonzaga University with a bachelor’s degree and from USC with a master’s degree. Is that correct? What were you majoring in?

Nate: That is correct. I majored in business at Gonzaga with a philosophy minor. I also obtained a master’s degree from Capella University in Labor Relations in 2013. Graduated from Gonzaga in ’09 and USC in ’15. (Note: Nate also won a Swim with Mike scholarship when he was at USC)

Me: If you don't mind, can you share your accomplishments/experience career-wise since you graduated college and started working?

Nate: Coming out of Gonzaga, I worked at CH2M Hill for three years in Labor Relations, then went to Glacier Peak Capital (a small value oriented hedge fund) to work as an analyst. I then left there after a year for graduate school. During graduate school I interned at Los Angeles Capital Management (a quant hedge fund) and Bank of America. During my second year of business school I worked full time and went to school full time. I worked full time on the capital markets desk for Toyota Financial Services. In April of this past year I left Toyota, and now work in commercial real estate full time.

Me: You briefly mentioned your accomplishments in sports yesterday, which ones are you're most proud of? Or maybe you're proud of all of them?

Nate: Making the Para Pan American Games team would be the one I’m most proud of. It was such a battle to make that team, and took a tremendous amount of sacrifice to make it happen. Swimming Alcatraz in 2016 would be up there as well along with the Golden Gate Bridge in 2012.

Me: When I asked you how do you deal with negative thoughts yesterday, you mentioned working out and intermittent fasting. I wonder if you have other mental strategies besides the physical strategies you've mentioned?

Nate: Gratitude. It starts and ends there. Multiple times a day we should be thanking God for the things that he is bringing into our lives. It’s very difficult to be miserable when we’re thankful for what we have. I could absolutely do a better job of this. I think volunteer work is incredibly therapeutic when it comes to brightening one’s spirits. When you’re down, the last place you need to turn is inward. It should always be outward.

Me: What gets you out of bed every morning? aka. What lights your heart on fire?

Nate: I hate losing. I want to be the best version of myself. That’s what gets me out of bed in the morning.

(Life) Lessons I learned from Nate

• “No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

• “Life is supposed to be lived with people.”

• “Never underestimate the power of competition.”

• “Life is like a wrestling match, if you stop moving, you get pinned.”

• “Loser have goals; winners have systems.”

• “Don’t ever assume your (SCI) client has a lower quality of life than you do.”

Nate has an amazing spirit that shines through his jokes, determinations, and compassion for others. He doesn’t just throw out beautiful words; he has truly “walked his talk”.