Charles Clark, A World Class Athlete

"If I can hit rock bottom and bounce back, you can thrive, too."

By the age of 22, I was a 3 time National Champion, 10 time All American, and placed as the 6th fastest man in the world at IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany. I was living my dream and one year away from inking my first shoe deal as a track and field superstar. On the outside, I was thriving, but my inner champion was barely pounding the surface.

It took a 99% tear in my right quad muscle, a debilitating injury for a world-class sprinter, to uncover the depth of who I am. For so long, my life was one-dimensional— practice, training, rehab, stretching, race, win, get better, get faster. The injury left my confidence bankrupt and emotions starving. This was the start of building a sustainable foundation of the man I am now.

I moved into a season of speaking voluntarily at local schools, giving them a watered-down version of my life with surface level motivation, never touching on my pain for fear of judgment. I believed no one would want to hear me speak, if they knew my truth. My mom was supporting her grown son. I was borrowing her car, while I was trying to rise back to fame. I felt like a failure, but still, I spoke.

Instead of just talking about success, I began talking about the pain we mask and understanding that it all had a purpose. People needed to hear my entire journey. The highs and the lows. I started putting on Thrive Events and traveling around the world impacting tens of thousands of lives each year. I became an expert in habit improvement, discovering purpose, vision creating and goal setting.

This is where I truly learned that thriving is more than just a gold medal. It is impact. It is life transformation. It is excellence. It is integrity. It is intentional living. Thriving is all the things most people forget when they are determined to achieve a great goal. These are the dimensions that gave me a life of purpose, and led me to training and speaking with organizations like Dick Sporting Goods, Nike, Raymond James Financial, Frontier Communications, iHeart Radio, US Army and FSU.

"Surviving should not be your choice when thriving is in your DNA."
My mindset of thriving led me to my wife, Shelbi. I met her serving at the Dream Center of Tampa. When I had the opportunity to love her, there was something different about it. I was at the point in my life where I felt equipped to love someone with my whole heart. We bring out the best in each other and we enjoy the simple things in life. We challenge each other to stand in our purpose, seek wisdom through compromise and believe in the goodness of one another's hearts. She is one reason that I continue to chase thriving.

Thriving is something I am seeking in every area of my life, not just from the stage or during one of my podcast episodes— it is all-encompassing. Between my health, community outreach, and close relationships, thrive is not just something that looks good on paper, it is something I live by.