It's your choice. Michael is the kind of...

It's your choice.

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, 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.
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's not 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 affect your mood. You choose to
be in a good mood or bad mood.
The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your
life."
I reflected on what Michael said. Soon hereafter, 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 would be twins! Want to see my scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but I 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.
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow
will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble
of its own." ©