I had to be cut out of my Car!

Today after 8 months of waiting, I am finally picking up my replacement car. Since my car smash on the 24th June (Brexit Day). I have been patiently waiting for my insurance pay-out for the injuries I sustained. I was stationary on a dual carriageway in roadworks on the A14 when I was hit from behind at 70 mph.

I was driving my Audi A6 and the car which hit me was (thank goodness) a Corsa. Because of this I am here to tell the story. If I had been driving a smaller car or the car behind was a larger car or lorry, I wouldn’t be here or I would be in a wheelchair. This shows you the fragility of live and none of us can guarantee our future.

Thank goodness for the solid car!

You won’t be surprised that the car I am picking up today is an Audi A6. This car in effect saved me from serious injury. As it was I had to be cut out of the car and had serious whiplash, hip bruising and back pain, but very fortunately no broken bones or spine damage.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to experience airbags going off and now I know! I didn’t know that the car would be full of smoke when the airbags deployed as both went off. The impact of the car behind was so severe that my IPhone flew off the passenger seat and cracked the windscreen!

Focus on the positive

Being an authority on Mental Resilience I decided to demonstrate some of that resilience and reached for my phone as they were cutting the roof off my car. I managed to video a short clip ending with the jaws of life just about to cut my door off.

Then when I was on the stretcher in a neck brace in the ambulance, I managed to film a selfie video of me with the sirens blaring. I didn’t look great but I will be using these two clips for my next keynote talk which I am currently developing.

You see it’s not what happens to you, but how you respond which counts. While I was in the car being cut out I was already thinking that this would provide great material for my talks on Mental Resilience. By focussing on the positive elements in this negative situation I stayed in a good frame of mind.

It’s how you respond which counts

“Nicolo Paganini was a well-known and gifted nineteenth century violinist. He was also well known as a great showman with a quick sense of humour. His most memorable concert was in Italy with a full orchestra. He was performing before a packed house and his technique was incredible, his tone was fantastic, and his audience dearly loved him.

Toward the end of his concert, Paganini was astounding his audience with an unbelievable composition when suddenly one string on his violin snapped and hung limply from his instrument. Paganini frowned briefly, shook his head, and continued to play, improvising beautifully.

Amazing response

Then to everyone’s surprise, a second string broke. And shortly thereafter, a third. Almost like a slapstick comedy, Paganini stood there with three strings dangling from his Stradivarius. But instead of leaving the stage, Paganini stood his ground and calmly completed the difficult number on the one remaining string.”

Paganini demonstrated how to respond to adversity in front of a live audience. We can all choose how we respond to almost every situation we face. What we focus on effects how we feel. If we focus on the positive we feel better, if we focus on the negative we feel worse.

Thoughts for the week.

1. How do you respond to negative things which hit you on a daily basis?
2. There is always a seed of something positive in every negative situation
3. When faced with a negative situation, work hard to find the positive seed
4. If you focus on the positive you will feel better

Well that’s it for this week I hope that the principles I share weekly are helping you. Please reply to this email and let me know if you are enjoying these blogs and finding them helpful. This will help me to provide the best information I can.

Until next week have a great weekend and stay positive.

Warm regards

John

Off the Wall – How to Develop World Class Mental Resilience available here
https://www.jdmindcoach.com/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/ (Special blog subscriber offer. Put in code 10POUND when prompted to receive a signed copy for £10 including postage and packing)