Life Thoughts

Realize I could be you, your sister, your daughter, your mother, your friend… “Disabled” is one of the few “groups” that anyone can join at any point in life. It is a group that you don’t get a choice to be a part of, and often you don’t get a choice about leaving. But you do get to choose how you respond. You can choose to accept the limitations imposed by your disability, or you can choose another path. You choose to focus on what you cannot do, or choose to focus on the possibilities. You choose to retreat from life or you choose to embrace life.

What have you chosen? What do you choose today?

This choice to live, to embrace life, occur with every breath… and in each moment we choose. Our actions are the greatest measure of our choices. We are what we do.

Is it easy?? Of course not. Is it simple?.... No. Can it be scary? Yes.

I’ve slowly come to the conclusion that I am not my body. I am more than the sum of my physical pieces. My body and its broken parts only hold me back when I allow them. They need not chain my heart, they need not chain my spirit, they need not chain my hopes, they need not chain my dreams. They need not….. But I have allowed them to at times… I have allowed them to be a barrier… And even more so than my body is my mind… My pride, my fear, my insecurities.

And that the greatest challenge of this ride…. Overcoming the barriers of my ego… To succeed, to make this dream a reality, I have to reach out… I have to risk rejection, I have to risk exposing my heart, my hopes, my dreams, my passions… I have to ask for help…. These are my greatest barriers, greater than the physical disability….

It scares me… but I choose to face the fear, to grow, to become the person I want to be..

I’m sick of sitting on the sidelines of the life I want because I’ve refused to ask for help, refused to accept the generosity of others, refused to accept the possibility that yes, they are willing to help…

And deep down, in my core, in my heart of hearts, I know this will be an amazing journey… full of joy and laughter. It promises to be the ride of a lifetime…