I broke my wrist again. The doctor looked at the x-ray and said, “Wow. It’s really a mess in there.” This, of course made me laugh because…really it’s inevitable that my right wrist is just going to completely fall apart at some point and his surprise just seemed funny to me. He casted my wrist and forearm and sent me on my way.
It was later, sitting on my couch watching Law and Order reruns on my laptop that I started feeling sorry for myself. I try not to think too much about what the future brings for my dominant hand. I don’t like to think of myself as handicapped even though the accident in some ways, has left me with a nifty bag of tricks (coping skills) I have to use to succeed in my life.
So, sitting there on my couch, feeling sorry for myself, I began to turn my attention to the positive spin. I like to find the one or two positive things that come out of seemingly negative experiences. I started shifting from doom and gloom thoughts about the steady decline of ability and tried to think of ways I could use this time, not being able to use my right hand, in a positive way. Here’s what I came up with:
- Since I’m off the hook (with myself) for crafty projects that were on my To Do list, like knitting myself and my girlfriend winter caps, perhaps I could practice my left handed drawings.
- To avoid more feeling sorry for myself, I could set up some plans in the evening with neighbors and friends.
- I could start working on improving my balance, which is something I’ve been meaning to do.
- I could use this 6 weeks as a giant immersion class in problem solving by keeping track of the obstacles and how I overcome them.
- I could use this experience to practice asking for help when I need it, which is not something I’m good at in my home life. But now I do need help. I need help getting a 30 pound bag of dog food out of my trunk!
- Practice writing left handed which is another thing I had been planning to do in a weird sort of planning for the day when writing normally will become problematic.
- Figure out ways to maintain healthy eating patterns and yet reduce all the chopping and dish cleaning I normally do.
I think I like best the idea of using this experience as an intense immersion class in problem solving. There’s nothing better for exercising the part of the brain used for figuring stuff out than to take away the regular path of practice (using my right hand for writing, brushing my teeth, scrubbing a dish while I held it with my left). The neuropsychologist I saw after the accident told me everyone should be occasionally brushing their teeth with the opposite hand. It is a simple, yet, effective way of exercising your brain.
Looking at my list, I realize that most of the items are just using the broken wrist for motivation, especially for things like improving balance. Improving balance has been on my To Do list for about 6 months. Falling on a hike in the Berkshires and breaking my wrist is a great motivator for undertaking that challenge.
This injury is temporary; but, my wrist is problematic. It is falling apart and eventually I’ll go from limited range of motion to NO range of motion. Anything I learn now, about navigating life left handed and/or one handed is probably going to come in useful later.
That’s how I try to turn a negative into a positive. How do you do it?
In the workplace, as in your personal life, focusing on the negative is only going to leave you in a negative place. When something negative happens at work, how do you react? How can you change a negative into a positive? Learning something is usually a good way to go and sometimes leads to even greater success.
I have a friend who, several years ago, was fired from her job. She was definitely freaked out and worried. But, do you know what she did? She started her own business and has found great success. She has won awards for her design work and has ridden out the recession without too much worry. Getting fired, seemingly a negative occurrence, turned out to have the single largest positive impact on her career outside of her schooling.
When negative stuff happens, turn it upside down and all around and I can almost guarantee you’ll find a few shiny spots.
Civil Civil Servant 