Michael's Choices
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IN...
THEN CHOOSE HOW YOU START YOUR DAY TOMORROW...
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, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of
the time. How do you do it?"
Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Mike, 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 isn't 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 will affect your mood.
You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line is: It's
your choice how you live life."
I reflected on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, I left the Tower 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. And, you usually have two choices.
Author unknown.