I recently worked with a client who had some symptoms that were causing her some concern. Because her symptoms are as of yet barely perceptible, she was dismissed by both her GP and her specialist.
What struck me was her negative thinking about her condition. Even though it’s in its very early stages, there is no formal diagnosis, and it may go away on its own within a short time period, she was already thinking worst case scenario: how her condition would progress over time and how it would adversely affect all her future plans as well as her relationships with family, friends, and co-workers.
Even though it’s normal to jump to all kinds of negative conclusions when our bodies start doing things that frighten us, one of the best things we can do, even if we have been given a formal diagnosis of a serious condition, is to stay positive.
Positive thinking makes all the difference in how you experience your condition. Even more important, positive thinking is a choice. Positive thinking is a mindset that we can choose to adopt in any situation.
Many people feel that we have no choice in what happens to us. I agree that this is true up to a point. However, we always have a choice in how we respond in any situation.
We have all met people who blame everyone and everything else for what happens to them. They never want to take responsibility for their own actions.
When we adopt a positive mindset in any given situation, we take responsibility for being in the situation and we try to make the most of it, rather than adding to it and making it worse than it already is.
Sometimes life throws us some tough curveballs that we like to think we neither asked for nor deserved, especially when it comes to health problems. By adopting a positive mindset, we can look for the life lessons in these situations.
A colleague who works with women with breast cancer told me that women often tell her that this illness is the best thing that happened to them because it made them slow down and enjoy every moment of their lives.
What is your curveball trying to teach you?
How can you turn it into the best thing that ever happened to you?