Power to Overcome

I met someone today who has an extraordinarily positive outlook on just about anything. He is a jolly sort of fellow and quite honestly reminds me of a young Santa Claus if you can imagine.

Now I am a fairly glass half full sort of person but he definitely trumped me, and when I asked how he remains so upbeat, I got the most vulnerable and astounding of answers. In short, the man attributed his attitude to having survived a brain tumor. He said having to relearn moving, walking, etc. really put life in perspective for him and as such, he takes most everything in stride.

With an experience such as this man’s, I couldn’t fault his logic, but what it also provided insight into was his persistence and grit to move forward, to overcome obstacles and to deal with what life threw his way.

Of course that got me thinking. This week on This American Life there was a part of the podcast dedicated to the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that occurred off the coast of Japan in 2011. The episode centered around a man who placed a phone booth in his garden as a way to call his cousin who disappeared (thought dead) at the time of the earthquake. The logic was that the wind would carry his messages to his cousin whom he so deeply missed. Eventually this booth caught on and the man had visitors from all over Japan. Once again, we are shown man’s ability to deal and overcome obstacle–admittedly some better than others.

I bring this up because we all go through our ups and downs, we all have our tests. What makes us unique is our ability to unite in so many ways and to use that unity to overcome anything should that be the death of a loved one, a lay off or a scathing critique of our book. Remember that as we are never alone and there is always someone else who is fighting or has fought or who will fight the same fight as we have.

Happy writing this week!

Filed under: A writer's life, romance, Toni Kelly