One of my friends is legally blind. Reece lost her balance and most of her sight because of a brain injury. After a stroke and a month-long coma, she woke up only to be told that she would never be able live on her own. She was nineteen.

When I met Reece five years ago, I found her living quite normally on her own in her own apartment. She was the most uplifting person I'd ever met.

How has she overcome her daily limitations - the abilitites most of us take for granted? I wondered.

I've watched her long enough to know. She skips over the "shouldn't have to's." Reece clearly doesn't like to be stuck in the rut of "shouldn't have to."

Where a lot of us say things like, "I shouldn't have to start over again," or "I shouldn't have to raise these children on my own," or "I shouldn't have to learn how to walk again," Reece chooses to just go ahead and do the things she shouldn't have to do.

It gets her farther faster. That kind of attitude is what got her living on her own. She's decided to live her life grateful for the opportunity to overcome. She lives her life patiently. She finds contentment -- permanently.

Do you have those kinds of skills to overcome anything? If not, do you want them now? Then here are some questions to ask yourself:

1) Can I Let Go of "Why?"

"The fact that you are willing to say, 'I do not understand, and it is fine,' is the greatest understanding you could exhibit." Author Wayne Dyer

Sometimes things go perfectly in life, but as we all know, sometimes without notice our personal circumstances change drastically. A relationship quickly unravels, a worrisome health scare emerges and compounding debt arises. The house burns down. A loved one passes suddenly. I mean, tragic things.

"Why is this happening now. Why all at once?" we wonder.

"Can I live without that answer?" is the question we must truly consider.

2) Can I Cling Tight Like the Dickens?

This summer I saw a bright green grasshopper clinging to my outdoor window screen as I looked out into my sunny back yard. I took a good look at him, noticing that the insect was missing one of his two rear legs! (One of the big legs that they use to spring high up above the tall grass line.) I thought about how he probably needs both of his legs for food. And for shelter.

Maybe he can get along with just one, I thought. Then I noticed how he wasn't finding out. He was just clinging to the screen, perhaps to rest and to recover a little.

Sometimes when we are trying to overcome something that is akin to a grasshopper losing his back leg, we need to wait awhile before jumping and just cling tight like the dickens to build our strength!

3) Can I Think Empowering Things?

"I don't deserve this."

"I shouldn't have to be going through this."

"Not now."

"It's all too much at once."

"Life caught me at a weak spot and this only complicates the situation."

We've all surely said or thought these things during hard times. In fact, these words are drizzled throughout a few of my old journals. Where did they get me? Probably the same place they got you...in more hard times!

Go figure. Sometimes when things are bad, we make the mistake of talking about how whatever has happened is compounding the losing battle we're already facing. Then when we're done complaining, we complain some more.

To overcome the worst we have to think the best! What if we remember and repeat the thought; "Changing my thinking, my talking and my writing, changes my living."

4) Can I Take Bold, Decisive Action?

Your answer to this one might be summed up in the saying, "Get 'er done."

After some rest, some reflection, and some dreaming, there does finally come a time for action."Get 'er done" is a way we can playfully encourage ourselves (and our friends) to move past our negative circumstances by taking decisive action. These three words are powerful, transforming worry and disappointment into empowerment. They lead to choices we have to make and steps we have to take in order to get to a better place.

5) Can I Seek out Success Stories?

When tough times seem incredibly overwhelming, it helps me to remember my friend Reece, or the grasshopper clinging to the window screen, or the three words, "Get 'er done." What stories do you recall during your trials? Sometimes spiritual texts help us with encouraging stories about breaking through the darkness to life. Sometimes stories stick better than flat out advice. We often need images and real life examples to truly begin us moving forward in a better direction. And once they do, we get to see how we've actually overcome what we thought was surely going to defeat us.