The
word "bad" can be found in the dictionary, so can the word "attitude."
Found together as one word, that is something you can't find in a
dictionary. Though for me, I feel you should.
Ever
since I was little, I've seen my parents have their ups and downs,
general tiffs here and there about bills, miscommunication, the car,
and so on. My parents have had their own moments when they've blown up,
but nothing too extreme. Even when my brother and I had our moments, and
trust me, we've had our fare share, they never just flew off the
handle. Maybe if it was something that was absolutely out of line, they
would give us our sentence for whatever the "crime" was, and we would
move on. We'd move on because, what was done was done and it was now
time to move forward.
Growing
up, I watched as things would happen to my parents. Friendships
drifting away, family members passing, getting the bad end of the stick
after they were told otherwise...I'd watch all this. Little did I
realize at the time, but despite whatever crap was thrown their way,
they managed to assess the situation, figure out how they were going to
move forward, and then they'd begin this process, and just do it. Now it
wouldn't happen right away, but eventually they'd finally get to where
they wanted to be.
Despite
whatever stress they might have been going through internally, they
constantly would push it to the side and keep going. Funny, because I'm
realizing this more and more as I'm typing the words. They'd have their
moment of aggravation, frustration, disappointment, etc, then it was,
"ok, let's make this better."
While
in the hospital, I was pretty much the youngest one in rehab. The next
youngest person in there was like 53. Maybe it's something about getting
older, but it seemed so many of those older patients would constantly
complain. They'd complain about soreness, or they were tired, or they
couldn't do something, or worse, just cuss out whoever was helping them
because they thought they were being tortured. It was about this time I
learned that many of their aches and pains were far from even existing
and they just really didn't even want to get out of bed. Who could blame
them? Every room had a flat screen attached to the bed and there were
channels for days. Talk about an awesome lazy day.
Well,
after about 2 days of listening to bad attitudes I realized that I was
allergic to them. It was such a foreign concept to me to have one. I
mean, if you're in the hospital and you don't want to be, fix it! It may
take a bit, but eventually, you'll get better and get OUT.
I really believe that attitude has a lot to do with your all over being. So, I declared to all these bad attitude patients:
"Quit
griping!!! What was that Mr.Nelson? Your knee hurts because you tweeked
it? I'll bet...well, I fell off a building. Everything hurts. So I'm
here to fix that, and you're screwing up my mojo with your complaining.
Now, turn that frown upside down and work. How's that knee feeling now?"
The therapists loved me for this. I said all the things they were thinking but couldn't say out loud.
And
that was the way things were. I don't do good around people with bad
attitudes. Especially when they complain about wanting to find a
solution to their bad attitude, tell everyone and their momma, yet take
absolutely NO advice when given it and prefer to gripe more about the
bad attitude and no solution. Almost as if the bad attitude is actually
the thing that makes them happy.
I've
met a slew of characters since my accident. The ones from the medical
community are the really interesting ones. I've met some folks who have
wanted to one up me with their list of injuries (we're all in the same
club, so there is no one upping), they enjoy making other able bodied
individuals feel uncomfortable because they aren't disabled and will
never know what it is like to be in a disabled persons shoes, or the
best, they go head first into the victim role and because they are where
they are now, the whole world owes them.
Look,
I have believed from day one that what has happened has happened and I
can't change that. But what I can do is make the absolute best for
myself and build a future for myself. I'm still breathing.
Will
I continue to experience complications due to my accident? Most likely.
Will I have days that will absolutely frustrate me? 100%. Will anyone
ever understand what I'm going through? Not really. Do I care about
these things? Nope, I have better things to do with my time.
I
don't like bad attitudes. I have them though because I'm human and not a
machine. I'm sure most people feel the same way. When I'm faced with
someone in a bad attitude, I am compelled to help them fix it, but if it
is clear that they're holding on to the bad attitude, I distance
myself. It makes things easier. I know misery loves company, and if
that's your thing, so be it. It's just not really for me.
Here's my final thought:
Does the bad attitude in your life deserve so much of your attention, and really... is it worth it?
Nicole
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