Tweet

An Example of Consciously Staying Upbeat Through Adversity

Written by: Alvah Parker

Article Overview: Wouldn’t you know it? While I had just written a list of 10 ways to stay upbeat and happy (Top Ten Tips To Help You in Your Pursuit of Happiness) when I had a challenge of my own.

An Example of Consciously Staying Upbeat Through Adversity

An Example of Consciously Staying Upbeat Through Adversity

Wouldn’t you know it? While I had just written a list of 10 ways to stay upbeat and happy (Top Ten Tips To Help You in Your Pursuit of Happiness) when I had a challenge of my own.

It all started with a plastic soda bottle that fell out of the refrigerator and hit my mother in the shin. It left a bruise and a small cut which at the time seemed pretty trivial even though painful. Unfortunately that bruise developed into an infection that had to be treated with intravenous antibiotics and then opened and drained. Since my mother is 92 and a diabetic she had to be hospitalized for the procedure.

Two days after she left the hospital she developed a backache. Five days later the pain was so excruciating she screamed every time she changed positions. Sitting or lying down – both were unbelievably painful for her. I called 911. Another hospitalization!

How do you remain upbeat and happy under these circumstances? I must admit that I am a natural pessimist and it takes a lot of conscious effort on my part to pull myself out of this pessimism. Some people are naturally optimistic but I am not one.

Optimists are always fun to be around. As a natural pessimist I am aware that in order for me to be fun to be around I need to consciously choose to be optimistic. That is where my list comes in!

Do I want to give up my pessimism? No. I believe it is there for a reason – perhaps part of my purpose in life. Here is what Martin Seligman, the psychologist who has studied happiness, says about his own natural pessimism.

“I think only a pessimist can write and do serious stuff about optimism. The skills I talk about I use every day. What I’ve become is what I call a "flexible optimist." I can recognize the situations which call for optimism, and the situations which don’t call for optimism need a mercilessly realistic view of what’s going to happen. When I make that separation, if it’s one of the many situations in which the optimism skills are going to pay off, then I throw in my whole complement of optimism skills. It makes me better able to initiate different projects. But when I’m in a situation in which the cost of failure is very high, then what I want is merciless realism. In that case I revert to my usual "four in the morning" pessimism.”

Some occupations just naturally require you use “merciless realism”. Those that I can think of off hand would be lawyers, engineers, scientists. That critical thinking and analysis is important to what they do. If you are in an occupation that requires being realistic or being a problem solver and you see that the pessimism spills over into your personal life, then try focusing on becoming a “flexible optimist” by using my ten tips.

In my own case one of my mother’s friends said to me after my mother had been admitted to the hospital the second time, that I should be grateful for the fact that my mother was in good hands and that she was at last comfortable (on heavy duty drugs!)

That got me thinking about my list. I realized I needed to choose optimism here. Mom’s vital signs had stayed good even though she is a diabetic with a heart condition. This was a good sign. We had every reason to believe that the source of the pain could be found and addressed.

Four days later we were told she had a compression fracture of the spine. Oh yes, did I say she also has Osteoporosis too? Six days later she had a vertebralplasty, a relatively new procedure in which they inject “glue” into the fracture to hold it together and lessen the pain. Eight days later she came home. The only pain medication she was taking was Tylenol. I feel grateful for her return to good health. My optimism is back!

Related Articles
  Make Money From Online Business – Overcome adversity and reap the benefits
  Staying Up, Up, Up in a Down, Down World (Part II of II)
  Overcoming Adversity in Business Takes a Positive Attitude
  The Adversity Advantage
  Never Give Up! The Power of Determination

Article Tags: adversity, challenge, happiness, optimism, pessimism, pursuit of happiness



Related Forum Posts
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - Staying healthy is important as I get very little done when I have the flu. I basically shut down for a week to recover properly and continue to work hard.
Re: The Top 50 Productivity Blogs To Watch in 2010 - Thanks for that list Evan. I have bookmarked it to go through more carefully when I have some spare time. What you say here is so true, the biggest problem with working on the internet is that it is so easy to get side tracked. Staying focused is really the hard part. MichelleJ
Re: How to Stay Motivated - Staying motivated is definitely hard. Especially when things get overwhelming and there are no immediate results. This is my personal approach. 1) Use a big white dry-erase board / piece of paper. 2) Pen down everything you need to do or in the process of doing. Point forms with dates. No need for excessive details. 3) Schedule a definitive period of time to relax (i.e. for the next hour and a half) 4) Jump back to working starting with number 1 on the white board! The best way is stay motivated to be organized, re-group then jump back in!
Getting Started In Your New Internet Business - I always think it’s fun and exciting to start a new Internet business. I know for me that I would do something that I’m interested and passionate about. Otherwise the new venture doesn’t last for long. As it’s just as important to have passion, motivation and interest, there are a few areas that help me succeed in business. Promoting Your Internet Business I would call this the “show me the money” part of the business. Without money or income, there is no business. Therefore it’s important to promote your business and turn your promotional activities into sales. At every opportunity, try to promote your business through passive means: e.g. through your stationary, letterheads, emails, brochures and any other promotional material you may use. Even if it’s just an article you write for a directory, remember to put your website address at the bottom of it. In the past, I made stickers of my logo that I could easily stick on my products. Also I made sure that every email I sent out to a customer had a company logo in it. This all helps with creating the brand for the business. It’s crucial to develop a marketing plan that will not only sell your products, but also your brand. Here are some other articles I recommend to read to help you promote your Internet business: * Spreading The Word: Turbocharge Your Traffic * Converting Traffic Into Sales Part 1: Generating Leads * Converting Traffic Into Sales Part 2: Profiting From The Back-End * 12 Sales Effective Marketing Tips Operating Your Business This is the “lifeblood” of the business and I’m amazed at the amount of businesses that still operate without having good systems in place. An electrician I use from time to time asked me how I maintain my book work and said he doesn’t know how to do it. I was shocked because I’d known him to be trading for over 2 years and he probably doesn’t know how much money is being made in his business or let alone lost. What I am saying is to not be like my Electrician friend and make sure you buy an accounting software to track all your accounts and paperwork. I would suggest hiring a book keeper because it will save you the hassle and time of doing it all yourself. Some good software packages out there that are under $500 like MYOB Accounting and QuickBooks will be more than sufficient when you start out. Another area that most people forget or get caught out on are getting the appropriate insurances for your business. The most common are public liability insurance, fire, burglary, vehicle and workers compensation insurance. All these can be easily found via a quick search on Google. I would recommend ensuring both public liability and fire insurances are in place before even running your business. Keeping Pace And Staying Up To Date This may sound all too overwhelming when you have to promote, operate your business and keep up to date with your industry. Believe me it’s not as hard as it sounds. Take the first step and join a trade association or your local Chamber of Commerce. You will find it both informative and beneficial to your business. To know what is happening in your area and within your industry can help you make better decisions for promoting your product or service. Whether it may be time to change a product line or add more services to your business, you will be keeping up with the industry and making sure you are not missing out on opportunities. Also it’s a great way to network and promote within your trade associations and Chamber of Commerce. Simply write an article to contribute and it can be used as great public relations (P.R) for your business. Also I emphasise to have a well prepared business plan created before starting your business, because this will be your starting point. A business plan is useful for so many areas for your business from sourcing finance to implementing a growth strategy for the next 5 years. Once it’s written down, it will become a living breathing document that you can update and review over time. I’ve just finished preparing my business plan for this business which took nearly 3 weeks to complete but I can tell you that it is well worth the time and effort to do. Learn how to put your own business plan together and I can guarantee you that you’ll get finance and negotiate business deals much easier. The Future Of Your Internet Business Starting your Internet Business is rewarding and if you look into those areas I have mentioned, then you will have a good foundation to running a successful Internet Business. Take action today and know that you deserve to live your dream. Tyrone Shum Internet Business Coach


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Sales Flubs

Online Business Ideas: A Look At Various Options

African Technology Development

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.