You are Fortunate
In 1982 Steven Callahan
was crossing the Atlantic alone
in his sailboat
when it struck something and sank.
He was out of the shipping lanes
and floating in a life raft, alone.
His supplies were few.
His chances were small.
Yet when three fishermen found him
seventy-six days later,
he was alive-
much skinnier than he was when he started,
but alive.
When people survive these kinds of circumstances,
they do something with their minds
that gives them the courage to keep going.
Many people in similarly desperate circumstances
give in or go mad.
Something the survivors do with their thoughts
helps them find the guts to carry on
in spite of overwhelming odds.
"I tell myself I can handle it,"
wrote Callahan in his narrative.
"Compared to what others have been through,
I'm fortunate.
I tell myself these things over and over,
building up fortitude…"
I wrote that down after I read it.
It struck me as something important.
And I've told myself the same thing
when my own goals seemed far off
or when my problems seemed too overwhelming.
And every time I've said it,
I have always come back to my senses.
The truth is,
our circumstances are only bad
compared to something better.
But others have been through much worse.
I've read enough history to know
you and I are lucky to be where we are,
when we are,
no matter how bad it seems to us
compared to our fantasies.
It's a sane thought and worth thinking.
So here, coming to us
from the extreme edge of survival,
are words that can give us strength.
Whatever you're going through,
tell yourself you can handle it.
Compared to what others have been through,
you're fortunate.
Tell this to yourself over and over,
and it will help you
get through the rough spots
with a little more fortitude.