Learn to Roll With It

Accidents happen everyday. These accidents can be as minor as tripping over your shoelaces or as major as loosing a limb. Either way, what happens, happens and you just have to learn to roll with it.

Growing up, I was always a daddy's girl, constantly by his side. My father owned a large sheep ranch and he knew a lot of people. Because of this, I knew a lot of people. Cleve is just one of these great ranchers that my father introduced me to. He owns a successful cattle ranch in Plymouth Utah.

I have a very distinct memory of Cleve when I was little. I remember leaning over to my dad and whispering in his ear, "Dad, why is Cleve missing some of his fingers?" My dad then told me, "Well, why don't you ask him?" Embarrassed, I asked Cleve what happened and this was his response.

He said that a long time ago, he was in a sheep ranching accident and several of his fingers were cut off. The doctors told him that he was going to be alright without his fingers but, it is important for him to have a thumb. The problem was, in the accident, his thumb became unusable. So, the doctors decided to re-attach Cleve's middle finger (which had also been cut off during the accident) to his thumb.  He would then finish his story and say, "So Charlee, if I give you a thumbs up, be careful what it means because, am I really giving you a thumbs up? Or am I giving you the bird?" He would then laugh at me as I would sit and wonder how many "thumbs ups" he had given me and then he would continue to talk to my dad.

Cleve has a very positive attitude about his missing fingers. His accident may have been a long time ago, but that doesn't mean he doesn't regret what happened. Willie Nelson once said, "Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results." I believe that is how it is with everything. Attitude is everything. If you have a positive attitude, even in the worst situations, you can have a positive outcome. Accidents happen and sometimes you can't prevent the outcome. You just have to learn to have a positive attitude about the entire situation and roll with it.

Hard Work Pays Off

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first television job as an anchor for getting "too emotionally invested in her stories," Thomas Edison's teachers told him he was "too stupid to learn anything," Dr. Seuss had his first book rejected by 27 different publishers, Walt Disney was fired by the editor of his job because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas," and Colonel Sanders failed at everything he tried until he was 88 when he built the Kentucky Fried Chicken Empire and became a billionaire. These people are all very successful. It was not easy and they failed multiple times, but because they had passion for something, they were able to become great.

We all have potential on this earth to do something great and find what we are passionate about. My little brother, Chance, has found his hobby and works hard to be the best at it. He loves the outdoors. He is constantly, training his beloved bird dog, fishing every pond, lake, and puddle he possibly can, and hunting every weekend to become a successful hunter.

This year, like all hunters, Chance made a goal to shoot a big buck. He religiously watched the property cameras, practiced his shooting skills and made sure to scout out the area for big deer. The day of the hunt came. He dressed up in his camouflage and off he went with my dad. That night, they returned home empty handed. Frustrated and tired, Chance went to bed hoping for better results the following day. The morning came and my dedicated brother and father went out and tried again. They walked the mountain side for hours and finally had success. Chance brought home a trophy buck that scored 202. He is very proud of his buck and as a big sister, I am very proud of him too. Because of Chance's dedication to shoot a massive deer, he was willing to give hunting the time and effort it took to become successful. He didn't succeed at first, but he wasn't going to give up until he did.

Chance and these famous people all have something in common, they never gave up. It wasn't easy and sometimes it seemed impossible, but they were all determined to succeed and achieve their goals.

Don't Let Your Trials Limit Your Success

Trials are difficulties in our lives that shape us and give us the potential to make us great. ‘Without trials, we would never know true happiness.’ We have all heard phrases similar to this one many times but, there is one person who I look up to and strongly admire because of her determination to succeed even without the help of her eyesight and hearing. Helen Keller once said, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” 

In 1880, Helen Keller was born with all of her senses. It wasn’t until at a young age, she was struck with sickness and lost her eyesight and hearing. Being impaired at such a young age, she never learned how to properly act or communicate. That is, until her parents found her a teacher by the name of Ann Sullivan who taught her the meaning of words through touch. Ann became Helen's great friend and lifelong mentor. 

Throughout Helen's life, people didn’t think that she held the potential to do what everyone else could because she couldn't see or hear but, Helen proved everyone wrong when she graduated Radcliffe College, wrote several books, received multiple honorary awards, one of which was her induction into the Hall of Fame, toured the world speaking to thousands about her trials in hopes to make a difference in peoples lives, and she helped found the American Civil Liberties Union as well as Helen Keller International to combat the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition. Helen Keller was very successful in her lifetime. It wasn’t easy and she had to endure many hard trials to succeed, but she did it.

It is easy to become frustrated when things aren’t going as planned. I personally get frustrated because of this, but when I think about Helen Keller and the things she went through, I truly have no reason to complain. Everyone has different trials that they have to face but anything is possible with hard work. Helen Keller is the apidimi of this. She didn’t let her trials limit her success. She once wisely said, “Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” She is an American icon that I look up to because she knows the true meaning of hard work and determination. If Helen Keller wasn’t determined to succeed, she might not have been able to accomplish half of the things she did.