How did Dr. Robert Seung-Bok Lee overcome setbacks and reach new goals with a positive attitude?

This article highlights the important role of a positive attitude in life and its impact on success through the story of Dr. Robert Seung-Bok Lee, who used his positive attitude to achieve new goals in life after losing his dream of becoming a gymnast.

 

There was a young boy of eight years old who was living a difficult immigrant life in the United States with his parents who worked all day and never got a chance to breathe and his younger siblings to take care of. The boy’s parents were always busy and tired, so the boy would take care of his younger siblings for them, but he was never really taken care of by anyone. Outside of the home, he was met with the cold stares of discrimination from people who looked down on the yellow race. The discrimination he faced just for being an immigrant left a deep scar on the young boy’s heart, and he gradually began to withdraw from people. With his self-esteem so low, the only way he could find acceptance was through gymnastics. After discovering his talent in gymnastics by accident, he began to put all his energy into practicing gymnastics in order to become a good and proud representative of his country.
Day after day, he would stay alone and sweat in the practice room. Even when other children were playing, he would hang on to the high bar and leap into the air, pushing himself to his limits. He was able to forget about discrimination and loneliness for as long as he practiced gymnastics. With hard work, he became an excellent gymnast, a favorite to win gold at the Olympics. But one day, the boy suffered a tragic accident. While performing a back flip, he stretched his neck out and his jaw hit the floor, severing a nerve in his spine. The accident changed everything. The boy became a quadriplegic and had to give up his dream that he had been chasing for seven years.
The boy was forced to give up his first dream, but that didn’t mean he gave up on his life. The boy made the object of his dream the target of his second goal. Although he could barely move below his neck and his back ached to the point of breaking just sitting in the same position, he persevered and achieved new successes. He had no choice. He could either be frustrated or overcome. Ten years after the accident, he went to medical school at Dartmouth, was a chief intern at Harvard, and became a rehabilitation physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Many people call him Super Boy instead of his full name.
Super Boy, above, is Dr. Lee Seung Bok, one of only two physicians in the United States who is a quadriplegic. I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Lee speak last year. As I listened to his inspiring story of his struggles and successes, I realized that despite his lack of physical mobility, Dr. Lee has a great competitive advantage: a brilliant mind, good humanity, and confidence. However, I think his most outstanding competitiveness is his positive attitude. Most people would find it hard to get back up after seven years of running down the same path, dreaming of their future success, only to realize that the path is blocked. However, Dr. Lee emptied his mind of the regrets of his lost goals and filled the space with the anticipation of new goals and faith in himself.
In addition, even though Dr. Lee’s finger muscles were paralyzed and he had to use a tool to write patient charts and use a wheelchair to travel even the shortest distances, he was not pessimistic about his disability. He said, ‘My disability is no longer a hindrance, but a blessing.’ His words, actions, and the way he lived his life truly exemplified a positive attitude. This positive attitude is what I most want to learn from Dr. Lee, who says he has gained more from his disability than he has lost.

 

 

Some might argue that a positive attitude is the most important thing, and that natural ability is more important. And rightly so, because we’ve all seen people around us who excel and make things so much easier without even trying hard. But the race of life is not a 100-meter dash. In a long marathon, what really matters is not your ability to run fast or your physical strength, but your attitude – your mindset. And there’s an important distinction between attitude and ability. Attitude is involved in the whole process, from deciding what you want to do to actually doing it. Ability, however, is something that helps you do something after you’ve decided what you want to do. The act of threading a needle starts with an attitude. It doesn’t matter how good you are at sewing, if you don’t put the thread on the needle, it won’t matter. In Dr. Lee’s case, if it weren’t for his positive attitude, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to use his exceptional abilities. Therefore, I believe that the secret to Super Boy’s second success after one major setback is his positive attitude that doesn’t let him be overwhelmed by the difficulties of the moment.
In the end, Dr. Lee’s story is not just a success story of overcoming obstacles, but an example of how important human determination and attitude are. From this story, we can learn how important it is to keep a positive attitude no matter what. It reminds us that it is this attitude that gives us the strength to move forward and reach new goals in the face of life’s greatest challenges. Dr. Lee’s journey gives us all true courage and hope.