I think that my friends would say that, on the whole, I'm a positive person. That does not mean that I don't often see problems where others might charge ahead blindly. Where I do see a problem I always try and see the solution too. My glass is always half full and never half empty. Whether we are born like that or we learn it from our parents and upbringing I know not.
One thing I do know is that whilst being positive doesn't necessarily keep you alive, being negative certainly can have a very adverse affect on you and even, in extremis, kill you or fail to keep you alive.
When I was 16 I had a life threatening disease: bronchiectasis. I was operated on and the lower part of my right lung was removed. At the time it was a pretty major operation. However it never occurred to me that I would die. On the same day another person had the same operation. He was in his 50s but nevertheless I knew (because I worked on the medical ward that he had been on) that his recovery chances were as good as mine.
When we were both over the worst of the recovery period I asked how he was and was told that he had given up. With all my tubes and drips I was wheeled to his bed and spent a long time trying to persuade him that, as I wasn't going to die, there was no reason for him to die either. However there was no persuading him and he died. As you will have gathered, I didn't.
That was 55 years ago but I remember it as if it were yesterday. I have never ever forgotten our talks and our completely different approach to our shared situation.
Jaz's situation (it was Jaz who started Thankful Thursday with, I think, this post) and her will to live through a very bad brain tumour has always been an inspiration to me and started me on Thankful Thursday posts.
So today I am thankful for positivity.
