Find The Opportunity In Life, It's All Around You

Helen Keller

(June 27, 1880 - June 1, 1968)

As the old saying goes, there's nothing certain in life except death and taxes. Our lives can change in a moment and the effects can be devastating - if we let them. Sometimes things happen, and we don't understand why they happened, or more importantly - why they happened to us.

When Helen Keller was born in June 1880, she was like any other normal baby. Her parents were very proud of her. In their eyes, she was absolutely perfect - and so intelligent! However, she contracted scarlet fever at 19 months old and after being rescued from the brink of death, little Helen could no longer hear or see. She was left blind and deaf in a world of vivid color and sound. And as she became further withdrawn into her own silent world, she began to lose her speech as well.

But is that the end of Helen's story? She got a bum deal, an illness taking so much from this bright, growing child. A world full of promise was seemingly snatched away from her, and for a time things were bad. She regressed, threw temper tantrums, stopped behaving, her manners went out the window. But eventually things began to change. 

Helen's parents found a private tutor for her. With the help of tutor Anne Sullivan, Helen learned to communicate again. Even more than that, she started behaving, she stopped grabbing food with her bare hands and sat nicely at the table eating with a fork and knife. With a little help, this child grew into a woman admired and respected for her work as an American author, political activist and lecturer. She even became the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Have you been there? Life is going along so well, so full of promise and possibility. The world is your oyster - then something happens, something out of your control, a setback. You feel defeated. Maybe you even started throwing some temper tantrums and breaking your toys in frustration. But this isn't the end of your story. Remember, every setback is the opportunity for a comeback. 

Take a deep breath, examine your situation, and realize that no temporary setback, whether physical or emotional, personal or business-related, can take away the whole world of opportunity that lies right at your fingertips every day. You aren't alone; there are others all around who are ready and willing to help you. It may take time and it will definitely take work, but you can turn any situation around. 

Like Helen, you too can be rescued from the brink of death, and when you feel blind to opportunity and deaf to life happening all around you, remember - sometimes all we need is a little help.