i can never forget the summer in 1996. i went through an extremity of despair due to my failure in the national college entrance examination. it seemed that my dream of being a university student would never come true. one evening my father came and told me the story of steven callahan, who was crossing the atlantic alone in his sailboat when it struck something and sank. it was a miracle that he survived and was found 76 days later(the longest anyone has survived a shipwreck on a life raft alone). later in his narrative he wrote these sentences “i tell myself i can handle it ared to what others have been through i’m fortunate”.
hearing these sentences i felt something important struck me. i belived my life would mot be that bad and it was proved to be true. later during my study in the university i always told myself “i can handle it” when my own goals seemed far off or when my problems seemed too overwhelming and every time i said it ,i always came back to my senses.
now i work as an english teacher in a middle school. whenever my students complain about their difficulties in study or want to give up, i will tell the same story of callahan to them. i just want to make them believe they can handle their difficulties because their circumstances are only bad compared to something better. but others have been through much worse. then they will build up fortitude.
so here, coming to us from the extreme edge of survival, are words that can give us strength. whatever you’re going through, tell yourself you can handle it. compared to what others have been through, you’re fortunate. tell this to yourself over and over, and it will help you get through the rough spots with little more fortitude.