Challenges are an opportunity for creative thinking

I have fallen on my face more than a few times in my life. Prior to using a wheelchair, I would find myself on the floor a couple times a year. Since I lived by myself, there usually wasn’t anyone there to help me get up from the ground right away. My first instinct was always to scoot across the floor and get to a phone, which I did the first few times. But there came a time when I decided to challenge myself to get up off the floor on my own, somehow.

I looked around the room and asked myself, “What can I use to get up off the ground?” Within a few seconds I spotted a pile of books and binders. I also spotted some pillows. Fortunately I had a little rolling office chair right next to me that I could stand up from on my own. So all I had to do was get my butt up high enough so I could scoot onto the office chair.

One thing I can still do now is lean my body such that one side of my butt lifts off the ground. This proved to be extremely valuable in this situation. I decided that if I could lean enough to one side, I could shove a book underneath the side of my butt that was off the ground, then lean back onto the book and instantly be higher off the ground. Next I could lean to the opposite side and slide another book under the other side.

Pretty soon I was sitting on a pile of binders and books a foot off the ground and I’d run out of books. That’s when the pillows came into play. I just needed a few more inches and I could scoot onto the chair. So I did the same thing with the pillows — lean my body and shove a pillow under myself.

Although the books were sliding a bit and the pillows weren’t very even, I did get my butt up high enough to scoot onto the office chair and finally get back up on my feet.

The process took about 30 minutes or so, which seems ridiculous, but it was a valuable 30 minute lesson I remember to this day. If I am ever presented with a challenge, I look around (physically and mentally) and see what I have available to me to overcome the challenge. Then I think of creative ways to use these tools in combination with my skills to solve the problem. This can be applied to anything from actually falling on your face to solving problems at home, work, or school.

Try it sometime and see what you come up with.