The Tribune - Spectrum

ART & LITERATURE
'ART AND SOUL
BOOKS
MUSINGS
TIME OFF
YOUR OPTION
ENTERTAINMENT
BOLLYWOOD BHELPURI
TELEVISION
WIDE ANGLE
FITNESS
GARDEN LIFE
NATURE
SUGAR 'N' SPICE
CONSUMER ALERT
TRAVEL
INTERACTIVE FEATURES
CAPTION CONTEST
FEEDBACK

Sunday, May 11, 2003

Lessons From Life

What every woman should have...

  • One old love she can imagine going back to and one who reminds her how far she has come...

  • Enough money within her control to be able to move out and rent a place of her own even if she never wants to or needs to...

  • Something perfect to wear if the date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour...

  • A youth she's content to leave behind...

  • A past juicy enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age...

  • A set of screwdrivers and a cordless drill...

  • One friend who always makes her laugh, and one who lets her cry...

  • A good piece of furniture (not previously owned by anyone else in her family)...

  • Eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel honored..

  • A feeling of control over her destiny...

What every woman should know...

  • How to fall in love without losing herself...

  • How to quit a job, break up with a lover, and confront a friend without ruining the friendship...

  • When to try harder, and when to walk away...

  • That she can't change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents...

  • That her childhood may not have been perfect, but it's over...

  • What she would and wouldn't do for love or more...

  • How to live alone, even if she doesn't like it...

  • Whom she can trust, whom she can't, and why she shouldn't take it personally...

  • Where to go — be it to her best friend's kitchen table or a charming inn in the woods — when her soul needs soothing...

  • What she can and can't accomplish in a day, a month, and a year...

 

Adrift

In 1982 Steven Callahan was crossing the Atlantic alone in his sailboat when it struck something and sank. He was out of the shipping lanes and floating in a life raft, alone. His supplies were few. His chances were small. Yet when three fishermen found him 76 days later (the longest anyone has survived a shipwreck on a life raft alone), he was alive — much skinnier than he was when he started, but alive.

His account of how he survived is fascinating. His ingenuity — how he managed to catch fish, how he fixed his solar still (which evaporates sea water to make fresh water) — is very interesting.

But the thing that caught my eye was how he managed to keep himself going when all hope seemed lost, when there seemed no point in continuing the struggle, when he was suffering greatly, when his life raft was punctured and after more than a week of struggling with his weak body to fix it, it was still leaking air and wearing him out to keep pumping it up. He was starved. He was desperately dehydrated. He was thoroughly exhausted. Giving up would have seemed the only sane option.

When people survive these kinds of circumstances, they do something with their minds that gives them the courage to keep going. Many people in similarly desperate circumstances give in or go mad. Something the survivors do with their thoughts helps them find the guts to carry on in spite of overwhelming odds.

"I tell myself I can handle it," wrote Callahan in his narrative. "Compared to what others have been through, I'm fortunate. I tell myself these things over and over, building up fortitude...."

I wrote that down after I read it. It struck me as something important. And I've told myself the same thing when my own goals seemed far off or when my problems seemed too overwhelming. And every time I've said it, I have always come back to my senses.

The truth is, our circumstances are only bad compared to something better. But others have been through much worse. I've read enough history to know you and I are lucky to be where we are, when we are, no matter how bad it seems to us compared to our fantasies. It's a sane thought and worth thinking.

So here, coming to us from the extreme edge of survival, are words that can give us strength: Whatever you're going through, tell yourself you can handle it. Compared to what others have been through, you're fortunate. Tell this to yourself over and over, and it will help you get through the rough spots with a little more fortitude.

(contributed by Adam Khan)

Attitude

The longer I live, the more I realise the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 per cent what happens to me and 90 per cent how I react to it. And so it is with you. We are in charge of our attitudes.

(Culled from the Net)

Home
Top