Life will not always be full of positives. The key is to find ways to make a plus out of a minus. Surprisingly, this is possible to do.
My dad who is almost 83 is recovering at a rehab facility from a couple of fractures he incurred last month. He will be staying there for some time. At his age and with other conditions he has – Alzheimers, dementia, osteoporosis – this was not a pretty outcome.
The physiotherapist and nurses gave him good attention, helping him recover faster. The family visited often making him feel loved and important. I have been visiting him and find that I am spending more quality time with him at the rehab than I was spending when he was home. Today, I gave him a shave – something I have never done at home!
Sometimes in life a minus can become a plus in some ways if you make it so.
One Response
I consider myself a living example of turning a minus into a plus………I had polio as a young child of 13 months, luckily it only affected my left leg, but the remainder of my physical body soon got busy to compensate and overwork for my weakness……..I promised myself that I will prove to be the best and the most “complete” person in the world, I worked very hard and was a ‘staright A’ student through out school and college, good fantastic grades and was also able to get into medical college to become a doctor (my life-long dream)….gradually my personality transformed for good into a type A, I wanted to be the best at whatever I did, look my best and also get the best…..never settled for anything less than the ‘BEST’!
Later on my family decided to move to North America due to political trumoil, corruption, violence and insecurity in Pakistan. At first it was very exciting but soon reality hit! My credentials, education, skills were not much of use here, in order for me to practice as a physician, I was expected to undertake several exams for licensing, compete in the matching program to obtain a position for resident physician in a hospital where there were few seats and thousands of foreign medical graduates from all over the world competing for those positions….a very difficult, long and disheartening route to possible or probable successful outcome.
So I decided to be creative! as they say…’if you have lemons, make lemonade’….and that is what I did. I started to network, make friends, volunteer and also examined and re-examined my options. I found a position in biomedical research, went back to school (UBC) for a Masters degree in biomedical sciences and was able to add to my skills, education and marketability.
I looked at this opportunity as stepping stone and not a setback….and today I am gainfully employed, a self starter, and a successful and accompolished woman!