GOING BLIND Helped Me Discover the POWER of OPTIMISM

How one writer learned to make the most of unexpected circumstances

- SAMEER DOSHI

We’ve all been there: Just when you’re doing great, life decides to throw you a lemon. Sometimes it’s annoying, like that time I stepped in water right after putting on a fresh pair of socks. Sometimes it’s tear-inducing, like when I was 23, home from a 20-hour shift, and the pizza I’d just pulled out of the oven flopped onto the floor. Occasionally it upends your life beyond anything you ever imagined: My life changed completely when, at 31, I went blind nearly overnight (more on that later). When bad things happen, it’s natural to want to hide under the covers and never come out. But I’ve discovered the secret to developing a shield against these events that will help you celebrate yourself so that pretty soon the bad situations will slide off you just as that pizza slid off my plate.

Where does pessimism come from? 

The events that shape us are like waffle makers, equal parts good and bad. We tend to forget the good (Yum, delicious waffles!) and remember the bad (This stupid thing takes forever to clean!). The bad memories can be so strong that our waffle makers are relegated to the back of a cabinet, never to be brought out again. But it doesn’t stop there: The bad memories resurface any time we come close to a trigger.