Think Positive - Even a Heart Attack Can Be a Good Thing

We all experience moments in life when things don’t go our way. Frustration, anger or fear often result. But sometimes things that initially seem disappointing or even disastrous actually turn out to be our lucky break. Steven List discovered that his heart attack at age 44 led to a rewarding new career, improved relationships, and a new purpose in life.

In 1996 Steven List was a smart, successful, happily married father of four. After interrupting his regular karate workout due to chest pains, Steven was rushed to the hospital, diagnosed with a 100% blockage of a major coronary artery, and given an emergency angioplasty. Steven was incredibly lucky in that the heart attack had no lasting physical effect on him, although he could very easily have died that night. While the heart attack may not have caused any permanent physical damage, it did create other lasting changes in its “victim.” According to Steven, the incident served as a powerful catalyst for the changes that had been brewing inside of him for several years.

In his younger days, Steven was intelligent but cocky. He was not sensitive or caring, and he did not really care whether people liked him because he felt he was smarter and better than they were. When Steven was in his 20’s he experienced his first revelation regarding his arrogance and his impatience whenever he had to teach others. A co-worker explained to Steven that he left other people behind when he made intuitive leaps from “A” to “H,” because the others needed to understand steps “B” through “G” as well. He tried for several years to overcome this tendency, but it was only after he began studying and teaching martial arts that he finally developed the patience to explain a concept and stick with it until the student understood and could demonstrate the lesson being taught. Over the next few years, the guy who didn’t have the patience to teach became a very popular instructor!

One day, a chance remark by his wife made Steven realize that he had changed – that he liked being a nice guy, he liked having people like him, and that it was alright to want people to like him. This was the beginning of a major change in Steven, as slowly but surely his defensive wall of arrogance and indifference began to crumble. But it took a full-fledged heart attack to really set things into motion.

Shortly before Steven’s heart attack, he learned that his stepmother had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was a loving and nurturing woman whom Steven thought of as a “second mother.” He took the opportunity to write her a heartfelt letter thanking her for her kindness to Steven and his brother when they were growing up. A short while later, Steven learned his stepmother had died. He experienced a totally unexpected surge of emotion at the news, and just two or three weeks later he was hit with the heart attack.

After the heart attack, Steven’s core philosophy became “treat every person and every day as if it might be your last.” He became heavily involved with the American Heart Association Heart Walk, serving as one of the organizers and, for many years, the top fundraiser.

Steven had a long history of public speaking, mainly technical presentations to the computer industry, but he now felt compelled to share with others the lessons he had learned. He was no longer content to simply inform, he now felt passionate about changing people’s lives. And so he launched a new public speaking career, with his most popular talks focusing on lessons he learned as a result of the heart attack.

One of his signature talks is “Steven’s Three Commandments,” which are: 1) Don’t wait until tomorrow to say I love you, 2) Don’t wait until tomorrow to say I’m sorry, and 3) Don’t wait until tomorrow to say thank you. Steven believes that these three simple principles can make a profound difference in our own lives and the lives of everyone around us. He lives these three principles in his own life, to the best of his ability, and his relationships with his family and friends have all improved as a result.

Steven could have let his heart attack bring him down. But instead he used it as a stepping stone for the next chapter in his life. His inspiring story reminds us that setbacks can actually be a springboard for future success and positive life changes. If we choose to keep a positive attitude in all situations, we will see for ourselves how often things that appear to be bad actually turn out to be good!

© Karen Wheeler Hall – All Rights Reserved

Read the full story of how Steven survived a heart attack and used the experience to better his life and the lives of others in Illumination - Inspiring Stories About Finding the Silver Lining by Karen Wheeler Hall (PublishAmerica, 2005, ISBN 1-4137-6322-7). Available from http://www.KarenWheelerHall.com/, online bookstores, and through major bookstores nationwide.