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Hatchet is a novel by Gary Paulsen. It is a survival story of a teen-aged boy named Brian. The story begins with Brian and a pilot flying over the vast Canadian wilderness in a single engine bush plane. During the flight, the pilot suffers a heart attack, loses control of the plane, and crashes into a lake.
Brian escapes the submerged plane and swims to the shore. That first night, as he tries to sleep, he is viciously attacked by thousands upon thousands of mosquitoes. He fights, wrestles and writhes insane trying to stop the unstoppable mosquito attack. Finally, he surrenders and just takes it.
Alone, battered and bruised, he just lies there in the dark and takes the attack. Accepting what he could not change did not stop his suffering but he suffered less once he accepted what was. Later in the story, Brian discovered how to make fire and finds other strategies to combat the mosquitoes. While the mosquitoes were awful to endure, he was able to endure them without the torture because he changed his attitude. He quit fighting and accepted what he could not change. It was only then that he could move on to learn how to make life better for himself.
I've remembered that scene from the book because it is a great example of accepting what is - accepting the things we cannot change. It seems to me we are all in a similar situation today. We are all enduring a period of self-isolation due to the virus. We can't go and do as we once did. We can fight, wrestle, and writhe against our current situation or we can accept what is and find ways to make our current situation more pleasant. It's all a matter of changing our attitudes. Let us see our current situation with new eyes. Rather than focusing on what we can't do, let's focus on what we can. Let's choose to make this time amazing and fun. We have this time to grow in so many different ways. It's all about our perspective - how we see what is. We can make these hard times better. Our Perspective and Attitude are Key.
~AOM
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Let's Just Go With The FLOW
