Mark Conway
Control Over Your Attitude
June 21, 2006 | by brett | Permalink
Only one class away from graduating, Mark decided to move to the Czech Republic during the early ’90’s. He had grown tired of school and decided to rent out a place for the summer and travel around Eastern Europe. He didn’t know anyone nor could he communicate with the natives becuase he only spoke English. It was an exciting and exploratory time for him as it was the first time he’d ever been outside of the country. At summer’s end he decided that he was going to stay. The unemployment rate there was an unheard of 0.2%. He soon found a position as a computer technician with a Czech company.
Mark headed back to the States for 6 weeks to ready himself for his new life in the Czech Republic. When he returned 6 weeks later, he was informed that the company had been sold and relocated some 80 kilometers west of Mark’s new riverside home.
Mark made the point that people have to take risks. He noted that these risks are much easier to make at a young age because young people don’t have as much to worry about.
While living in the Czech Republic, Mark woul wake up every morning and look out the window. He’d see the Prague castle with the swan-filled river alongside it. To this day, he still cannot beleive that he up and moved to a different country on a whim.
“No one is going to care about your destiny more than you. You’re the architect of it. The best things that have ever happened to me were totally unforeseen and they came about because of my taking risks.”
“The only thing that you actually have control over is your attitude. Even when others have control over your circumstances, you still have control over your attitude. That actually is the only thing you need to make it in whatever it is you’re doing.”
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Mary Schnorr Says:
September 5th, 2007
Attitude is everything, but maturity and patience help find the right attitude. I’m an RN who suffered the growing pains most do: the complaints about the health care system, being underpaid, understaffed, etc. Now, 25 years after becoming a nurse, I’m more passionate than ever. Why? Because I see my work with fresh eyes, a maturity born of life experience. I love people. It’s about the patients, and my students. Sure, there are big problems in healthcare. But my love for interesting people, clinically and in the college setting, makes me want to get up and go, and work to improve health care in the US. You lose the right to complain if you don’t work to make things better. I’m happier now than at any other point in my 25 year nursing career. Why? Because I finally focus on the part of my work that I’m most passionate about-the people. The rest is just details.
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