Chapter 68 Chapter 19 I found the answer

George Bernard Shaw said: "The secret of sadness is that there is still time to worry about whether you are happy or not." In 1943, I had three broken ribs and a punctured lung, and was treated at a military hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico.The accident happened during an amphibious landing exercise of the Marine Corps on Hawaii Island. At that time, I was about to jump from the boat to the beach. I didn't expect a huge wave to hit me, and I was thrown high and then fell on the beach.The fall was so hard it broke three of my ribs and one of them went into my right lung. After three months in the hospital, doctors said my injuries were showing no signs of improvement, which sent me into a state of extreme panic.After some deliberation, I realized that it might be excessive worry that affected my physical recovery.Before the accident, I had a very active personality and a colorful life.However, for three months, I had to lie on the hospital bed 24 hours a day, doing nothing but thinking wildly.

The more I think about it, the more worries I have. I worry about whether I can restore my original social status; worry about whether I will be disabled for life; worry about whether I can still get married and live a normal life. To avoid getting caught up in this never-ending annoyance, I wanted the doctor to move me to a ward called the "Country Club," where patients had almost total freedom of movement. At The Country Club, I developed a strong interest in bridge.I spent 6 weeks partnering with others, and also read a lot of bridge books, became a veritable bridge fan, playing bridge almost every night.At the same time, I also developed a strong interest in oil painting. Every day from 3 pm to 5 pm, I learned painting under the guidance of a teacher.I also tried to carve soap and wood, and reading about it kept me interested.

I kept myself so busy that I didn't have time to worry about injuries.I read psychology books donated by the Red Cross to improve my psychological endurance. One day after 3 months, all the medical staff of the hospital came to congratulate me and said that I had made great progress.That was the most exciting sentence in my life, I was almost so happy that I wanted to cry. My health didn't improve a bit while I was doing nothing, lying in bed all day worrying about my future.I am destroying my body with afflictions.But when I devoted myself to playing bridge, painting oil paintings, and learning to sculpt, and ignored my illness, the doctor congratulated me on "great progress".

Now I live a normal and healthy life and my lungs are as good as yours. Remember what George Bernard Shaw said—"The secret of sadness is to have leisure time to worry about whether you are happy." If you want to be happy again, try to keep yourself busy.