Living with the impact of a traumatic brain injury and an invisible disability can leave us feeling abandoned. Abandoned from our hopes and dreams. Abandoned by other people. Abandoned by ourselves.
I also created a video presentation of this article. You may watch and listen to this presentation by clicking on this link: Traumatic Brain Injury, Invisible Disabilities, and Abandonment Video Presentation
You are not Alone
If you have been down that road, you have not been alone. I have been down that road too.
But I discovered some good news. Some good news that I would like to share with you.
We No Longer have to Abandon Ourselves, Our Hope, and Our Dreams
Today I would like to share something with you. Something that reminds me to not abandon myself when I feel abandoned by people, including myself.
To not abandon my hopes and my dreams when feel laughed at and ridiculed.
I would like to share a fable to illustrated the point of not abandoning ourselves, our hopes or our dreams.
Aesop’s Fables
The Tortoise and the Hare
an Aesop Fable
One day a hare was bragging about how fast he could run. He bragged and bragged and even laughed at the tortoise, who was so slow. The tortoise stretched out his long neck and challenged the hare to a race, which, of course, made the hare laugh.
“My, my, what a joke!” thought the hare.
“A race, indeed, a race. Oh! what fun! My, my! a race, of course, Mr. Tortoise, we shall race!” said the hare.
The forest animals met and mapped out the course. The race begun, and the hare, being such a swift runner, soon left the tortoise far behind.
About halfway through the course, it occurred to the hare that he had plenty of time to beat the slow trodden tortoise.
“Oh, my!” thought the hare, “I have plenty of time to play in the meadow here.”
And so he did.
After the hare finished playing, he decided that he had time to take a little nap.
“I have plenty of time to beat that tortoise,” he thought. And he cuddle up against a tree and dozed.
The tortoise, in the meantime, continued to plod on, albeit, it ever so slowly. He never stopped, but took one good step after another.
The hare finally woke from his nap. “Time to get going,” he thought. And off he went faster than he had ever run before! He dashed as quickly as anyone ever could up to the finish line, where he met the tortoise, who was patiently awaiting his arrival.
Slow and steady wins the race.
We No Longer have to Abandon Ourselves, Our Hope, and Our Dreams
In life, you may feel like the tortoise in the fable. Like the tortoise, you may have people in your life who behave like the hares. You, like the tortoise may find there are hares in your life. Hares who by what they say and do discount you. Who discount you and your ability to run your own race.
Like the tortoise, you may find that there are hare (s) in your life, who by what they say and do dismiss your ability. Dismiss your ability to run in, much less win your race. Like the tortoise, you may have hares in your life — who by what they say and do — seek to discourage you from running in your race.
Be Like the Tortoise
To that I would say. No worries. Be like the tortoise and determine to run your race. Be like the tortoise and be who you are my friend. Be like the tortoise and go about your business. Stay committed to your mission and vision. And as the tortoise found, you will finish and win your race.
Win your race because you did not pay attention to what the hare (s) in your life said or did as you ran your race.
Be Encouraged and Don’t Give Up
And as you run your race — remember – Slow and steady wins the race.
“Insist on yourself, never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you only have a extemporaneous half-possession…Do that which is assigned to you and you can not hope too much or dare too much.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
You have my permission to share my articles and or video presentations with anyone you believe could benefit, however, I maintain ownership of the intellectual property AND my articles, video presentations and eBooks are not to be considered OPEN SOURCE. Please also provide a link back toSecond Chance to Live. In the event that you have questions, please send those questions to me. All questions are good questions. I look forward to hearing from you. More Information: Copyright 2007 -2019.
How about write in one font size. I have a brain injury and what you have written here is hard to track because of the constant level changes in the writing.
INCREASING and DECREASING FONT ( PRINT) Size
Hi Joe,
Thank you so very much for asking. Several years ago I wrote an article on that very topic, Sir. Below are instructions on how to increase and decrease the print or font size, Joe. Below are the title and the link to the article. As you have questions, please ask. All questions are good questions. Have a peaceful evening. Craig
INCREASING and DECREASING FONT (PRINT SIZE)
I receive a comment and request for an article on increasing and decreasing Font or the Print Size. I wrote an article in 2007 to share how to increase and decrease the font size of my articles. Below is a link to the article on Second Chance to Live. Below are also instructions.
To INCREASE the font size of the print (make the print size larger) press and hold down the Control Key – which is at the far left bottom key on your keyboard under the left shift key – and the Shift Key at the same time. While holding these 2 keys down (Shift and Control Key) click on the (+) key, which next to your Backspace Key at the end of the row of your (1,2,3…) number keys. As you click (tap) on the (+) key while holding down the control and shift keys, you will see that the print or font size of the article will get bigger.
To DECREASE the font size of the print (to make the print size smaller), press and hold the control key down and click on the (-), which is the sign next to the (+) sign. You do not have to hold down the shift and the control key at the same time to decrease the size of the font. Holding down the Shift Key and the Control Key while clicking (tapping) on the (-) sign will not work to decrease or make the font (print) size smaller. Holding down the shift key would instead be the underlining key, instead of the (-) key.
https://secondchancetolive.org/increasingdecreasing-font-size/
It’s not a matter of adjusting the font size that is the problem. The problem is the size inconsistency that makes it difficult to read/track. Increasing or decreasing the font size at my end does nothing to correct this problem. I suppose I could copy and paste it to a text editor and format all the text the same size and boldness but why create the extra steps for potential readers?
Hi Joe,
Thank you for your question and now your reply. You are the first person to make the request. I understand your conundrum, however, to print in all capitals would not fit the presentation. In addition, presenting text in all capitals would be interpreted by many as I was screaming at them. So the best solution to make the print larger would be to follow the instructions that I shared. I am sorry that I do not have a better solution.
Craig
I never said anything about all capitals. All capitals would be another difficulty as far as trying to read any of this. You are using multiple font sizes and boldness. It’s nothing to do with capitals or increasing font size at the readers end. There is something being lost in translation for you and I don’t know any way to make that more clear.
Hi Joe,
Oh, now I understand. Thank you for your clarity and more information. I use headings for SEO purposes and to make things stand out. Headings change the size of the font automatically. Could I ask you to do me a favor? As you said you could use a text editor to read my articles, could you please use the text editor to remove the code (heading) to read my articles? Doing so will have all the font/print in the same size and structure. Thank you, Sir.
Have a great day.
Craig