It was a sensational Colorado summer afternoon and we were enjoying a day at the pool as a family. My daughter Alexa was just a one-year-old toddler, gleefully running barefoot in her swimsuit across the cement into the wading pool. Her Dad and I were dutifully following closely behind her and her older brother on that beautiful day.

Alas, Alexa took an unfortunate fall that day and hit her head on the cement – like toddlers often do. Initially, we thought she was fine but soon realized that this was something more serious and rushed her to the emergency room.

Our beloved little girl had suffered a concussion and the CAT-scan revealed that she had bleeding in her brain. As the doctor ordered, I kept her awake that night and in the morning she underwent a follow-up CAT-scan to ensure that the swelling in her brain had gone down. The follow-up tests later that week confirmed that she indeed had dodged a bullet and was going to be just fine. Or, so we thought.

It wasn’t until years later that we’d find out that fall had caused brain damage and partial epilepsy. In fact, Alexa had been having undetected absence seizures since her original fall. Then, at seven years old, she had a grand mal seizure and was flown via Flight for Life to Children’s Hospital after being in a seizure for more than an hour! She was in the Intensive Care Unit for a few days and that’s when we found out the extent of her original injuries. The bleeding in the brain had caused scarring in the visual perception and motor skill areas of her brain.

With ample reason, Alexa was upset and frustrated about her situation. We sat down with her and talked about everything positive that she could do, her strengths, her dreams, and her desires. Remarkably, within just a few weeks, she began to ‘turn the lemons into lemonade.’ Her doctor had challenged her to draw a three-dimensional box. This would be a big challenge for someone with brain damage in the visual perception area of their brain. 

Alexa became obsessed with drawing and spent the next month coming home after school every day and diligently drawing until she finally figured out how to draw in three dimensions. She played club soccer, earned a black belt in karate and even learned how to snowboard. She excelled academically in school and never once did she let her situation get her down.

In her junior year of high school, Alexa became the Colorado teen representative for epilepsy and went to Washington D.C. to meet with congressmen and representatives to advocate on behalf of those living with epilepsy. She organized a clothing drive at her high school to raise funds for the Epilepsy Foundation. She spent her free time working with other kids who had more severe disabilities. Her challenges have awakened in her a very compassionate young woman.

Simply put, Alexa is my hero and constant inspiration. Where mere mortals might only see a dark cloud, she is always able to find that shining ray of possibility. While admittedly few possess her inner fortitude, we can all leverage some learnings from her journey, so that we too can see and realize the joys of possibility ourselves.

As kids, we are so incredibly resilient and sometimes even when we just don’t know any better. That can work to our advantage, just as it did for Alexa. When we have the courage to take action despite our fears, that’s precisely when the possibilities appear, even some we don’t expect.

I love what the late Walt Disney says, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” It takes a strong and consistent inner stance to stay focused on your dreams. You just have to be willing to, at times, turn off those filters that we all create to protect ourselves as adults. That’s when you become open to bringing something greater into your life.

It might not seem so at the time, but we all have endless possibilities in the face of the hurdles life places in front of us. We only become unstoppable when we have a commitment to the hard work and the follow-through it takes to truly achieve what we set out to accomplish. Taking a page from Alexa, she wouldn’t be flourishing as she is now if she had chosen to focus on what she couldn’t do.

I’m reminded of Wilma Rudolph who contracted polio at the age of four. Her doctors said she’d never walk again. She overcame her disabilities through physical therapy and hard work and learned how to walk again by the age of 12. She then went on to become the first American woman to win three gold medals in the 1960 Olympic games. When we focus on what is possible we become the creators of our future.

Optimism fearlessly opens the mind to possibilities and solutions. In any given moment, you have the ability to choose either an empowering perspective or a debilitating one. If you are pessimistic, you yourself are instantly stopping any meaningful change in your life because you don’t believe it will happen.

Our belief systems are powerful and developing an unrelenting faith in yourself is key. The late Sean Stephenson says it best, “Doubt is a virus that attacks our self-esteem, productivity, and confidence. Faith that you and your life are perfectly unfolding is the strongest vaccine.”

A positive attitude not only moves you in the direction of your goals, but it also aligns you with the people who will help you further your goals. Plus, it allows you to alter your future with each choice that you make in the present. We have freedom of choice and what we focus on determines what we accomplish, how we feel and what we can handle in life. And, as my dear daughter Alexa is a testament to, what we can accomplish, feel and handle can be more than you ever thought imaginable.

Life can throw you some curves, just like it did for Alexa and my family on that fateful summer day. If that does happen, know that it doesn’t have to feel like the end. It may feel that way at the moment, but many great accomplishments are born from our struggles. In fact, it could very well be the beginning of something extraordinary – as long as you’re open to it. It could be a purposeful path for your life’s calling.