Please read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9 and Part 10
As I shared in Part 2 of this series it took me 10 years and 4 different majors to obtain my undergraduate degree and 5 years and 2 different graduate schools to obtain my masters degree. Little did I know that the reasons why I had difficulties in my 4 different majors and 2 different graduate programs were due to my learning disabilities that stemmed back to the traumatic brain injury that I sustained when I was 10 years old.
As I shared in Part 3 of this series, I experienced a long history of 20 years of getting and losing jobs. These jobs included both non-professional and professional jobs. Too many times I had the experience of being called into the office at these jobs and told that my services were no longer needed. These firings, layoffs or terminations left me baffled as I was a hard worker at each of those jobs.
What I shared in Part 2 and Part 3 of this series, left me feeling confused, frustrated, disappointed and dejected. Nevertheless, for many years I spent countless hours attempting to figure out why I found myself unemployed, yet once again. Because I had difficulties in both my undergraduate, my graduate programs and my work history I bought into the notion that who I was, was of little value. Because of denial and my apparent failures, I experienced minimization and marginalization.
As I shared in Part 3 I experienced a tremendous amount of ongoing financial insecurity due to getting and losing jobs on a seeming revolving basis. Because of the financial insecurity and my inability to maintain employment, I applied for SSDI and after my 3rd application, I was approved to begin receiving SSDI. While I was waiting to obtain the decision of my 3rd application I went through and was deemed to be unemployable by the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.
Although I was deemed to be unemployable by the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation and no one seemed to want what I had to give, I still had a desire to be of service. With time and as I began to accept my reality, I began to realize that my varied life experiences — my educational endeavors, my vocational pursuits, my recovery process and my experience of living with adversity — all gave me a strong foundation upon which I could build to be of service.
I began building on this foundation through my first book — Table Topics for the Soul — Journey to the Heart – which is registered with the Library of Congress Copyright © 2006. I then wrote an autobiography to chronicle my experiences and what I learned through living with a traumatic brain injury and invisible disability from the age of 10. Although neither of these works were published, I now see these works as part of the foundation that I needed to lay to build upon to create a new structure.
“In all labor there is profit.” Proverbs 14:23 a
Please read Part 5 for context. Thank you.
You have my permission to share my articles and or video presentations with anyone you believe could benefit, however please attribute me as being the author of the article (s) video presentation (s), and provide a link back to the article (s) on Second Chance to Live. In the event that you have questions, please send those questions to me. All questions are good questions. Thank you. I look forward to hearing from you. Copyright 2007-2015.
Leave a Reply