Second Chance to Live and Thriving with a Disability

Welcome back to Second Chance to Live my friend. I am glad you decided to stop by and visit with me. Today I want to share another secret with you that I have learned through my process. As a person with living with a disability, I have had my share –and then some — of disappointments. For more detail please read, My Journey thus Far. For quite a few years of my life, I allowed a two-letter word to profoundly influence my life. I allowed NO to keep me stuck, until I realized what NO was doing to me. When I saw NO for what it was — a two letter word that wanted me to fail –I decide to start saying YES to myself.

When I started saying YES to myself, my life slowly began to change for the better. YES began to change me from the inside out. YES, showed me that I could be secure, regardless of how much NO wanted of me to be insecure. I discovered that I could start telling myself YES, instead of waiting for some one else to say YE to me. I discovered that when I said YES to myself I was able to see abundance and grace. YES opened my eyes to the possibilities of life that had always been in front of me. YES motivated me to not give up on myself and to keep going, even when it hurt. YES motivated me and showed me how to use my creative energy. YES helped me to celebrate and accept myself. YES has drawn me to a loving God. YES has helped me to see life in colors, rather than merely in black and white. YES has enhanced my capacity to embrace my being, just because of who I am: me. YES has given me the ability to understand the complex despite my deficits and limitations.

YES has provided and continues to provide me with spiritual awakenings.

I will share one of these awakenings with you. Because I am a visual person, I use analogies to describe what I have learned. I grew up in the country (as opposed to the suburb or city). Walking in the woods was an adventure for me. I spent a good bit of my time investigating nooks and crannies. I also enjoyed fishing at a lake that was a short bike ride from our house. I remember looking under rocks and turning over logs, as I searched for worms to use as bait. Some days I would find a hand full of worms by only turning over a few rocks. On other days, I had to turn over many rocks before I could find one worm.

YES motivated me to keep turning many rocks until I found my bait so that I could spend my day fishing.

In the same spirit, YES, has provided me with the determination to find needed resources to enhance my life. I came to see resources, like the rocks I turned over near the lake as an adventure. Consequently, my commitment to YES has opened doors for me that would have otherwise remained shut to me. Many of my friends and professional colleagues have told me that I am one of the most resourceful individuals that they have ever me. I do not say this to be braggadocios. My point is that as a person living with a disability, I have been able to succeed on many fronts because I refused to let the NOs in life to discourage me.

Some resources have provided an abundance of assistance, while other resources did not meet my needs. Nevertheless, my determination to succeed has helped me to stay committed to my process when NO could have easily undermined my process.

In your experience, you may be discouraged. You may yourself looking at life through the eyes of NO. Let me encourage you my friend. Little by little begin to look at life through the eyes of YES. When you begin to see your life and your circumstances through the lense of YES, you will begin to experience the possibilities inherent with in your disability. Through looking at life through the eyes of YES you will begin to find solutions to living the life that you have imagined. YES will give you the ability to live your destiny because you will learn to use your gifts, talents and abilities in ways that work for you. YES will empower you to live your life on life’s terms because you will find that you can trust the process, a loving God and yourself.

If you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams and endeavor to live the life that you have imagined…you will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. Henry David Thoreau

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