Monday column: The adventures in our minds

Times of Oman

6 days ago

You would say a person in his forties has a lot to do in life but if he is confined on a wheelchair many people would say he has limited options.
I was in the same opinion until I sat down and talked to such person. This was only last week when I saw a friend after many years. He waved at me when I was walking the opposite direction. He was sitting in a coffee shop all alone.
I interrupted my routine and joined him. It was then I noticed a wheelchair when I was sitting opposite him. He noticed what I was looking at and he smiled. He told me he is now confined on the wheelchair after a car accident that crippled him five years ago.
'Don't look sad,' he told me when he noticed the expression on my face,' I had a lot of time to adjust myself to this situation.'
I struggled for words because last time I saw him he was on the beach walking. But I did not tell him that. He smiled again and then answered my question that I did not have the encourage to ask. He went on to tell me that it was hard for the first twelve months not to be able to do his exercises. At least I had the courage to ask 'what has changed after one year? '
His answer was puzzling when he said 'it was something in the air and the horizon' that took him out of his mental miseries. I thought he was either having me on or his mental faculties were crippled, too. I think he knew what I was thinking and quickly explained.
His family took him for a day out in a village and while sitting out on a shade of a tree having lunch, he started taking an interest with the nature. He noticed birds swirling around on the trees. He also noticed the clouds touching the mountains peaks and the shapes of the shadows on the ground.
'It was then I realized that I did not need my feet to get out of my wheelchair,' he told me with a broad smile.
He is now creating adventures in his mind on a daily basis. He did not need to use the road to get where he wants to be. As a matter of fact, he could parachute himself on the valleys, fly high over the treetops and sail on the oceans.
So, he explained, the wheelchair is just a confinement for his body and not his mental prowess. In other words, he is not letting his disability pull him down. He is rising above the challenge and getting results. We sat there for another half an hour before he decided to call it a day and go home.
And there was another surprise for me. I expected someone to come and wheel him home. He saw it on my face and said,' I drive myself around.'
I watched him get himself into the lift on his way to his car. Using his arms, he can lift himself behind the wheel and fold his wheel chair and put it on the passenger's seat. He is doing all that without using his legs.
So what have I learned from him? Very simple. The power of the mind is much stronger than our physical strength.