Resilience, Conscious Living, And The Magic Of Imagination

Amon Abraham in a quiet moment of visualization and focus before stepping onto the runway at the 2025 Paralympics. 

They told me to measure success by what I could no longer do. I was measured by a missing limb, by a medical chart, by the polite sympathy and lowered expectations of strangers. But every time the world tried to put me in a box, something inside me refused to be counted out. I learned early that reality is not only what happens to you, it is what you imagine, decide, and practice into being.

I was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, on August 18 with tibial hemimelia type 2, a condition that left my right leg shorter than my left. Port Harcourt is a city where only the strong survive. To be seen or heard you fight for it, so I grew up with a militant spirit, daring to be different, daring to try anything. If anybody could, then I could too.

First Taste Of Flight

My love for movement began in primary school during an interhouse sports day. We were jumping over sticks laid across the ground, and when my turn came, I cleared the bar and heard someone say, “You know, there’s a special sport called the Paralympics.” I was only a child, but something inside me said, “One day I will high-jump for Nigeria.”

In secondary school I competed with able-bodied athletes in sprint and jump events, winning a silver medal for my house. After graduation I searched for a club where I could train seriously, but found none. Still, my passion to belong to prove myself never faded. I kept playing ball, practicing stunts, even jumping over a car at the University of Port Harcourt arena. That stunt led me to a friend who introduced me to the university’s Spartan Sports Team and coach George Oriano. He welcomed me to begin training whenever I liked. That day my formal athletic journey began.

Interviewed after an outstanding performance at the 2013 intersport event, a young athlete with an early spark of excellence.

A Long Road To Recognition

I started training for high jump in 2015, though my event wasn’t recognized nationally. My coaches suggested swimming, long jump, and shot put, but high jump had my heart. Year after year — 2016, 2017, 2018 — I trained without going for any national competitions or international trials. I had no income, faced family pressure, and lacked basic resources, but I stayed dedicated.

In 2019 Nigeria finally included my category (T44) in national trials for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. The qualification standard was 1.85 meters for automatic entry, 1.80 meters for consideration. I cleared the bar and made the team. Then COVID-19 struck, and the Games were postponed. In 2021 we traveled to Switzerland for qualifiers where I jumped 1.81 meters — good but not enough for the final cut. Instead of giving up, I went back to work.

By 2022 my event was officially introduced at the National Sports Festival in Delta State Nigeria. Competing against a combined class of athletes, I won a gold medal and set a personal best of 1.95 meters. In 2024, I cleared 1.91 meters at trials in Morocco, earning my place on Nigeria’s team for the Paris 2024 Paralympics. Discipline, dedication, and focus carried me where statistics said I should never stand.

The Day I Could Not Jump

But medals don’t tell the whole story. In 2023 I arrived for training and discovered I couldn’t perform a simple banana jump, something I normally executed with ease. Nothing was wrong with my body; the block was inside me. I felt fear, lack, guilt. For the first time I truly looked inward and saw how negative emotions were shaping my reality.

Radiating pride in native attire while holding the Nigerian flag during the Paralympics. 

That day I came to understand that imagination is more than daydreaming — it is creation. Every jump begins in the mind. If I picture myself soaring over the bar, I am already rehearsing success. But if fear whispers I can’t, that thought becomes a demon holding me back. I realized I had been training for years without fully loving or believing in myself.

So, I forgave myself, childhood traumas, past mistakes, guilt, fear, all of it. I chose self-love. I began to monitor my emotions like a detector, catching negativity before it took root. I started creating consciously: if I declare I can, align my emotions, and take action, reality eventually agrees. The true high jump is an inner leap into self-mastery.

3 Practices For Conscious Living

The tools I discovered on the track work for anyone, athlete or not.

1. CONSCIOUS CREATION. Set aside 30 quiet minutes to imagine the life you desire. See it vividly with sights, sounds and emotions. This is not escape, it is training the mind to build the future. Imagination is time travel. The present now will be the past, and the image you hold becomes tomorrow’s reality.

2. EMOTIONAL DETECTOR. Check your inner weather. Pause before reacting. Notice fear or anger and choose a higher response. Life will test you with setbacks and temptation, but consistent emotional awareness keeps you steady and capable of wise action.

3. SELF-LOVE AND FORGIVENESS. You cannot give what you do not have. Until you forgive yourself and believe in your own worth, you cannot expect the world to believe in you. Love yourself first; everything else flows from there.

These practices are simple, but they are not easy. They demand honesty and daily effort. Yet anyone can begin — student, parent, entrepreneur, or fellow athlete.

Lessons For Every Reader

My disabilities say I cannot. My reality proves I can. Everyone faces fear and doubt: the job that feels too big, the relationship that scares you, the dream that seems impossible. I am living proof that conscious creation works. Manage your emotions. Believe in yourself despite background or circumstance. If you can imagine it and stay consistent, you can manifest it.

Sharing a proud moment with my coach at the National Sports Festival, 2022. 

Today I continue to train, speak, and share my story. My message is simple but radical: As above, so below. As within, so without. Reality mirrors the world inside you. I call myself the “athlete magician” because high jump taught me that every leap begins in the unseen. Believe in yourself first, then watch the world rise to meet you.

Amon Abraham is a Nigerian Paralympic high-jumper, tourism professional, and wellness advocate. He speaks internationally on resilience, conscious living, and the magic of imagination. Connect with him on SpeakerHub or follow his upcoming book The Magic of Imagination.

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