There’s No Point In Fighting Mother Nature

How was your long weekend?  I spent 5 hours in a sailboat going around the Toronto Islands on Saturday—something that would normally take 2-3 hours but the wind, good and steady when we started out, dropped to virtually nothing halfway around and there was nothing for it but to paddle!  That’s just the gamble we take when we’re involved in an activity that’s dependent on the weather. 

Anybody with a disability can relate to trying to make plans, hoping their personal support worker and/or their transportation will arrive on time and their health will cooperate.  If all the stars are aligned, appointments can be kept, meetings can be attended and time can be spent with friends and family.  If any one of those external factors goes awry and plans are dashed, as happens more frequently than most folks without disabilities would tolerate, we need to call on our internal resilience to let the annoyance slip away like water off a duck’s back.  If we allow it to stress us out or decide to simply sit at home and hope people will come to us, our quality of life suffers more than it needs to.  It’s important to think positively but have a ‘plan B’.  Don’t expect that things won’t ever work out, but get in the habit of coming up with alternative ways your tasks and goals can be accomplished, whether they’re personal, business or social.  I know people who will even take on the responsibility of things not working out, calling it “just my bad luck”.  Believing that can do a heavy number on your self esteem, and it’s all downhill from there, emotionally speaking.  Sometimes you just gotta realize the wind died and you’re going to have to exersize your muscles and paddle!