Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good
mood and always has something positive to say: When someone would ask
him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be
twins!" He was a natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the
employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to
Michael and asked him, "How do you do it?"
Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you
have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you
can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood.
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I
can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.
Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept
their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose
the positive side of life.
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes, it is," Michael said. "Life is all about choices. When you
cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you
react to situations.You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to
be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line:
It's your choice how you live life."
I reflected on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, I left the Towe
Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought
about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious
accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After
18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released
from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked
him how he was, he replied. "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna
see my scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through
his mind as the accident took place.
"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my
soon to be born daughter, " Michael replied. "Then, as I lay on the
ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I
could choose to die. I chose to live."
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.
Michael continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept
telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the
ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses,
I got really scared.
In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man." I knew I needed to take
action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said
Michael. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. "Yes," I replied. The
doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply.
I took a deep breath and yelled, "Gravity."
Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate
on me as if I am alive, not dead."
Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because
of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the
choice to live fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything.
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34.
After all, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.