Editor’s Note

WORDS: Brian Usher PHOTOGRAPHY Brian Usher - www.usherusher.com

Is your glass half full or half empty? If you’re an optimistic person, well it’s half full of course and if you lean to the pessimistic side, then it will be half empty. Pessimism or optimism can control your destiny. I’m a firm believer that being a winner or loser in life in a lot of cases is determined by our thought process. As I say regularly to my eldest son “if you think you are a loser you will be, if you think you are a winner you will be.” Now, this is not true all the time but it’s certainly better to live your life thinking you can be a winner rather than a loser —  after all,  that little voice in your head will go a long way to determining your future success.

It’s certainly an important lesson to pass on to our children. Positive thinking can change their future and their lives. We are all going to land on hard times (I know I have) and how you respond to difficult circumstances will be the measure of you and determine your future. Resilience is one of the most important traits that we can instil in our children so they can pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get back on the horse so to speak.  We won’t be there to help them every time they fall, and if they can master resilience and we can assist to instil it in them they are on the road to success.

I remember my daughter coming to me and asking to change schools. She told me that she was being bullied and that the school was failing to address her concerns and doing basically nothing about it. My response was that she could certainly change schools but the bullies will be at the other school, just their names will be different. Sure enough, I was right. In school as in life, you will come across bullies and all kinds of different people. You just need to learn how to deal with them. My daughter faced her adversaries, showed resilience and is now studying a double degree in Law and Criminology at Griffith University. (Far smarter than I am!) She is on her way now and resilience will hold her in good stead for a successful future. As a parent, passing on resilience to your child is the gift that keeps on giving!