When I was twenty-six years old we had a family crisis on the west coast of British Columbia, so I moved there to take full-time care of my niece until the situation sorted itself out. Two months into my stint, my truck insurance was about to expire, and I mentioned to my sister that I wasn’t sure how I was going to get back to Alberta to renew the policy, because back then you couldn’t renew vehicle insurance from out of province.
“Why don’t you just call them and ask?” my sister responded. “The worst thing that can happen is they say no. There’s always a one-in-a-million chance that anything could happen, so why don’t you just believe that you can be that one in a million?”
I called my agent and explained the situation, and she renewed my policy over the phone.
Years later, as I struggled to get off drugs and work my way through the labyrinth of emotions at the root of my depression, my sister’s words swam back into conscious awareness.
Even though I could not find very many success stories in the land of addiction and depression, I kept telling myself that even if only one person in a million could make it through, that person could be me.
And that person could be you.
Nicely said Margo! I forget to believe from time to time and that sure leads nowhere! Thanks again for putting into words so many feelings left unchecked.
It’s easy to get in the habit of expecting bad outcomes. It’s habit though. I try to practice expecting good outcomes. The result ends up being that I make more attempts and because mathematically at least some of the attempts are likely to have good outcomes, more good outcomes happen overall…