two choices - a story of inspiration

I have been a little down lately, and have dug myself a little hole. Then I get this email from one of my amazing colleagues, and the day turned. It was exactly what I needed today, and will read this little story every day for the remainder of the week at least. And I wanted to share it with you all. Hoping it could be a little inspirational to more than just me.

Thomas is the kind of guy you love to hate. He's always in a good mood, and always has something positive to say.

Whenever someone asked him how he was, He'd answer: "If I'd be any better I'd be twins!"

He's a natural inspiration. If a colleague had a bad day, Thomas was there and told the colleague how to see the positive in the situation.

I was curious about this, and one day I went up to Thomas and asked: "How do you do it?"

Thomas answered: "Every morning I wake up I tell myself: you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Every time something bad happens I can choose to be a victim or learn from it. Every time someone complains to me I can choose to accept their complaint or I can choose to focus on the positive sides to life. I choose the positive sides of life."

"Sure - but it's not all that simple" I protested.
"It is" said Thomas, "Life is about choices. When you cut away the crap, every situation is a choice. You choose how to react on the situations. You choose how people affect your mood. It is you who choose if you want to be in a good mood or a bad mood. In the end it is your choice how you live your life."

I thought about what Thomas had told me. Shortly after I left the firm to start a new business. We lost touch, but I often thought of him whenever I took a choice concerning my life instead of just reacting to it.

Many years later I heard that Thomas was involved in a serious accident with a fall of over 20meters from a radio sender. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks in the recovery room Thomas was released from hospital with support along his spine.

I met him about 6 weeks after the accident. When I asked him how he felt he answered: "If I'd be any better I'd be twins! do you want to see my scars?"
I turned down the offer of seeing the scars, but asked him what he thought during the accident.

The first thing I thought was the welfare of my daughter" Thomas answered. "So while I lay on the ground I remembered 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.

"The ambulance people were amazing. They kept saying everything will be fine. but when they rolled me into intensive care and I saw the looks of the doctors and nurses there I got terrified. Their eyes had written "He's a dead man" in them. I knew then I had to do something." Thomas said.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well - there was this big brutish kind of nurse yelling questions at me. and she asked me if I was allergic to something. I answered "yes". The doctors and nurses stopped while waiting for my answer. I took a deep breath and said: "Gravity"
Through their laughter I told them: "I choose to live. Operate on me as if I am living, not dying"

Thomas survived because of the doctor's competence, but also because of his amazing attitude. From him I learned that every day we can choose to live fully. Attitude is, after all, EVERYTHING.