Snail to the Finish-Leaning on Faith
How to Get Through Adversity with Maximum Success
by
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To be or not to be, that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind William Shakespeare A person must decide to be actively involved with people. This is a strategy necessary to improve. In many respects a person must consciously oppose the forces of discouragement and refuse to give in to negative emotions. A person best does this by being proactive and continuously optimistic. He must elicit support from family and friends, then continue to have faith that he will see improvement. A third reason for my improvement was I had strategies to see progress in rehabilitation. An important aspect to remember is to have a strategy; have goals and objectives a person is trying to achieve. I found out later that the therapist was recording how often I had to rest. One sign of improvement was that I needed less rest. This seems insignificant, but it was a way to record and see improvement. My physical therapist gave me a specific activity strategy that helped me see improvement: She instructed me to walk in water at an indoor pool to strengthen my legs and help with my balance. I practiced this twice a week for more than a year and a half. It was this continuous effort in implementing this exercise that made a difference in my attitude about improving and ‘the amount’ of improvement attained. There was a gradual difference over six months. I could feel more ease in trying to walk and I was less fearful of falling. I still have not learned how to walk on the water. Maybe you have to know where the rocks are located. After six months in transitional living at The therapist answered, “They may help, we really don’t know for sure; but for certain, if you don’t do them you will not get better.” I will never forget that conversation. Strategies or active plans are essential to maximum improvement through an adversity. If you do not implement strategies, it is certain you will not progress. In Appendix 1 there is a list of strategies from which to check off as you complete them successfully. The fourth reason for my success is because of my faith. My fourth year has been a year of hope and the reality of my condition. I have continued therapy and an exercise program that has enhanced my potential for maximum improvement. The realization that I will probably never return to my previous health is sobering. Much of the research I have read on TBI survivors affirms this. However, a person can still achieve great things if he keeps a visual image in his mind of goals and objectives.
to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms
against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?
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About the Book
Everyone’s nightmare is to wake up in the hospital to find one unable to move due to a car collision. This happened to me in December 2000. During the months that followed I had physical and occupational therapy, speech and many other therapies to regain cognitive and physical abilities. I was not expected to survive the accident. I was in a coma for five weeks, experienced a brain stem twist, broke all fourteen ribs, and fractured C1-C4 vertebrae. An outcome of his brain stem twist was a traumatic brain injury. I spent a total of one and a half years in hospitals in
A snail moves slowly, but consistently to his goal. This book presents ideas on how to get through adversity. Like the snail, progress is often very slow, but success is there if a person knows how to achieve it and finds evidence of progress.
There is a meaningful connection between faith and the healing process. My faith has had a remarkable influence on recovery. Leaning on his faith has influenced my recovery.
I have developed thirteen strategies to maximize success in getting through adversity. If a person implements these strategies as part of his daily effort, he will experience a new hope for living. The contents of this book will challenge the reader to improve. The book provides charts for a person to record his physical and psychological progress.
A person can experience success in coming through adversity. He must record progress in order to realize it. These are ideas for thinking in a new direction. There is no ‘finish line’. The most important aspect of recovery will be a person’s perseverance: to have strategies and a plan for success; then, stick to it.
About the Author
Dr. Jarvis has been an instrumental music teacher, supervisor of Fine Arts, and school principal in
He received the Kappa Delta Pi Award for the most outstanding dissertation proposal submitted through the Graduate School of Education, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, 1981. During his hospitalization, he received Achiever of the Year - Outstanding Communication Improvement from the New Jersey Speech and Language Association, 2002, for his improvement in rehabilitation at
He has been a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians for over thirty five years and received First in Senior Competition-40th Annual Magi Fest, 1971. He uses magic during to illustrate how to achieve success in getting through adversity.
Dr. Jarvis has given lectures at hospitals, psychology groups, and therapy groups on strategies for improvement through adversity based on the contents of this book. He also has made presentations at magic conventions on ‘Hope through Magic for People with Disabilities and has been a guest speaker at many churches on ‘Leaning on Faith’ through adversity.