It's up to you.

Everyone likes Tina. She is always in a good mood. She is a little chubby and her hair is often a mess. But she doesn’t seem to mind that.

If she gets a bad grade at school, it doesn’t bother her too much. She doesn’t blame anybody. She just works harder for a while. If someone comes to her complaining about something, she just laughs and makes a joke. She has a great sense of humour!

A while ago I had a really bad day. Everything went wrong. I got a really bad grade on Geography test. Actually, we both did. I was crushed but it didn’t seem to bother Tina that much.

At lunchtime I sat down at her table. She looked happy and she was enjoying her vegetable soup. I started dramatically, »I got a really bad grade at Geography, I have terrible cramps because of my period. Plus, we are taking a test in History tomorrow. And this soup is the last thing I want to eat.«

Tina smiled, »Things are not that bad. I always say, it's up to me how I feel and I want to feel fine so I do.«

»It’s not that easy,« I said.

»In fact, it is, Cathy. When I get up in the morning, I say to myself, it's up to me how I feel and I want to feel fine. This day is going to be great. And it often is.«

»Come on, things are not that easy,« I disagreed.

»Why not?« she asked. »When I looked at this soup, I said to myself, ok, it's no chocolate cake but this is what is on my plate right now so I'm going to enjoy it. I got a bad grade at Geography and I said to myself, ok, that's not cool, but I'm going to work hard for a week or two and my grade will get better. See, it's up to me what I do and it's up to me how I feel.«

I was confused, »Ok, Miss Positive. Where did you get all that?«

Tina kept silent for a while. Then she started talking slowly and calmly, as if she was telling me a secret, »I learned this from my grandma. She was in a really bad car accident when she was my age and she almost died. Unfortunately, she lost one leg and she was put on a wheel chair. Everybody said it was amazing that she survived. Before the accident she had always been so positive and happy. Then everybody said that she would get bitter. She was crushed for a while. However, in a few months, she somehow accepted her new condition. Her life has not been easy, not easy at all. But her spirit has been amazing. Always happy and smiling. And the words that I said before, 'it's up to me how I feel and I want to feel fine so I do,' these are her words. She says that all the time.«

We looked at each other and smiled. All of a sudden, my bad grade at Geography, my up-coming History test and my period cramps did not feel so bad, not so bad at all.