Johnathan Aubrey is the author of the book “Am I Different.” The story is about a young boy who shares the joy of overcoming obstacles by doing hard things. Despite his obstacles it has not stopped him from moving forward and doing things in his life that he likes. He is very influential and has been a positive influence on others. 

This story is an experience of growing up with cerebral palsy and believing because of his physical challenges he would never be able to learn to ride a bicycle, and the process he went through to figure it out. 

At the age of 7 he was bored and lonely and he wanted to learn to ride a bike. He was given a bike with training wheels, and he was in a bicycle accident. His sister challenged him to a race. He got a head start and crashed because he took a corner too quickly. His sister didn’t have enough time to go around him and ended up riding her bike over the top of him. The bicycle accident hurt. His parents decided to take the bike away from him to avoid accidents. For a long time Aubrey believed people with cerebral palsy couldn’t ride a bike. 

Aubrey would play hide and seek with his friends, and when they got tired they would call time out and sit down. He would go to his friends bikes and sit down on a bike, and see if he could ride it. He didn’t really put a lot of effort into riding the bike, so he would get tired and say, “see, I can’t ride a bike.”  

The summer of his 13th year his brother and all his friends were riding their bikes to a public pool and Aubrey was home alone playing video games. He got bored and lonely and he was tired of being bored, so he decided it was time that he was going to ride a bike. For five hours he worked on his other brother’s bike. The next day he started riding the bike. After an hour and a half, he rode the bike. While he was riding he wondered how he would stop the bike. He forgot that you pedal the bike backward to slow down. He put his feet down, but he was going too fast and face planted on the pavement. He jumped up and shouted in celebration. “It was painful, but the success was so huge that it didn’t matter because I rode a bike,” Aubrey said.  

Aubrey not only had the determination to ride a bike, he went on in life and got a dual bachelor’s degree in Economics and English in four years. “Any time we don’t do something hard, it’s because we are looking at how hard the pain is. So when we look at our desires, goals and dreams, and we make it big enough, it becomes bigger than the pain of doing the hard things, then it doesn’t matter,” Aubrey said. He shares his book with kids all the time at schools, and it is a great influence for kids to do things that are hard for them. When he goes to schools and reads his book to kids at assemblies, he asks them if it is important to do hard things. They all say yes.  

Not being able to ride a bike has been difficult for Aubrey. He is asked why he is so determined to ride a bike when it has been so painful to learn. His answer to that question is, “because being lonely and bored is more painful and I’m tired of being different. I don’t care what anyone says, I am going to ride a bike. It is showing that I no longer care what the pain it is to ride the bike, I am going to care more about the freedom I will gain by doing something hard,” Aubrey said.  

Aubrey believes it is a game changer when you do something hard. If you stay in a sheltered space because you are afraid to do something because of the hardship or pain, you aren’t going to grow. You have to try things and put the work into what you have a passion for. It
builds confidence. 

 At the age of 32 he had an amazing and traumatic experience at the same time. Ever since he was a little kid he wanted to be a husband and a father. He bought his first townhome, which was a big deal because he was a kid that grew up in rentals. The traumatic thing was he moved into his townhome all by himself. He wasn’t married when he moved into his townhome, and he felt like a failure. He began thinking that the deck had been stacked against him. He felt like the whole reason he wasn’t married was because he had cerebral palsy. He had three long hard years, and he was trying to figure things out. He attended some Tony Robbins seminars that helped him to get rid of his bad stories and make good stories, which was important. He then read a spiritual passage and it taught him that he wasn’t cursed by his maker, but he was actually blessed with cerebral palsy. “Once I realized cerebral palsy was a blessing and not a curse, and the decks weren’t stacked against me, it was stacked in favor for me, that’s when I started speaking on winning despite obstacles,” Aubrey said. The story in his book, “Am I Different” was the foundation of his speech. He helped people learn what the formula of being an inspiration is. He spoke in businesses, schools and organizations. After he would speak, he would have mothers and fathers approach him and say “I wish my kids would have heard this story.” He repeatedly got the message about the inspiration he was to children and businesses, and this was when he decided to write his book. 

Aubrey knew it was going to take money to write, get illustrated, copyright and get published. It took him longer than it should have. He was concerned about having the money to get his book published. His determination took him to real estate, and he flipped two houses. But that didn’t work out in his favor.  He thought, “I am going to write the book and hope the money shows up as it’s needed, which it did,” Aubrey said. 

When Aubrey made the decision that he was going to write his book, it took two and a half years to write and publish his book. He then asked a friend if she would be willing to edit the book and she did. Then he asked another editor, so he had two editors. Between the two of them they did a phenomenal job. His broker’s wife was an editor and she helped edit, too. It took him a year to write his book and then he got Ben Rowberry to illustrate. He has a dedication and passion to write more books. 

“This book is dedicated to those who decide to step up and do hard things. I believe that stepping up to do hard things will inspire and motivate others. I wrote this book to help companies, organizations and the rising generation create a culture where doing hard things is the norm and inspiring people is a natural occurrence. Special thanks to the contributors of this book; Ben Rowberry, Kimerly Farmer, Karalee Colton, Cheyenne Nielsen and Charlie Lythgoe. Their hard work and support made this book possible,” Aubrey said.

If you are interested in getting the book, go to
www.winningdespiteobstaches.com 

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