Trapped

 Early in my career, we arrived at an intensely involved house fire. I was assigned to search the upper floor. On my way up the pitch black stairs I fell through them, as the fire raging underneath had burned them out. I was wedged in the stairs between my chest and air bottle, the fire burning me underneath. My arms were trapped and unable to reach my radio. I was well trained for situations like this and how not to panic. I would either run out of air, burn alive, or be rescued. I focused on the last choice and waited as calmly as I could. Two years later I was diagnosed with cancer. After the Doctors told me it could be terminal, I was devastated. I could not relax, think properly, I felt a sense of hopelessness and panic, like I was trapped. I was not trained for this at all. So I trained myself using yoga, meditation, and exercise. I replaced negative thoughts with positive thoughts all the time using cognitive behaviour therapy. I became calm and ready to deal with whatever would happen. Its highly unlikely you will ever be trapped in burning stairs, but its possible you will be diagnosed with cancer, face an illness or a loss, even a broken heart. Now you know how you can deal with and train for it, because you can control your mind and likely your destiny.