Tag Archives: Inspiration

Day 86

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“You’ve got to go through hell before you get to heaven” – The Steve Miller Band.

It’s 6: 15 PM on day86 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  Oats  for  breakfast ,listen to music on YouTube – I heard this wonderful song by Justin Bieber called Pray – it brought tears to my eyes – feed myself  Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and beef curry   for brunch    tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for most of the day – finally after a 17 day donation drought one of my Twitter friends made a donation – thanks God I know that was you … REALLY appreciate it  🙂 –    and exercise for 15 minutes –  I felt like someone was tearing my hamstrings on purpose – I have never had a child but I bet you anything childbirth is less painful than the exercises I do on a daily bases LOL 🙂

Today morning I woke up willing to tweet for as long as it took me to get a donation but by the 20th tweet I was thinking what is the point nobody cares and at that moment I realized something that I will carry with me throughout the course of my life – the people who don’t quit – even when they want to – are the ones who will end up on top at the end of the day. Do you give up prematurely? 🙂   

Day 85

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Love your country.  Your country is the land where your parents sleep, where is spoken that language in which the chosen of your heart, blushing, whispered the first word of love; it is the home that God has given you that by striving to perfect yourselves therein you may prepare to ascend to him.  ~ Giuseppe Mazzini

It’s 5: 58 PM on day85 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  Oats  for  breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for most of the day – I don’t know how Non-Profit Organization do this on a daily bases –when I started this I  thought all I would have to do is set up my Firstgiving page and tell people about it and they would donate boy was I WRONG LOL :)–   feed myself  curry and rice for lunch and exercise for 10 minutes –  today was a GREAT day I barely felt any pain or discomfort 🙂

When people think South Africa they think Nelson Mandela, Table Top Mountain, Robbin Island all of which are an integral part of South Africa as a whole but there is more to South Africa then our many Nobel laureates and World Heritage Sites we have:

  • A variety of wildlife (which contrary to popular belief do not roam around free in the streets but rather are in zoos or national parks)
  • Beautiful beaches
  • Good food
  • The finest wine
  • Great music (see videos below)
  • Wonderful movies (Tsotsi won an Academy Award for  Best Foreign Language Film of the Year in 2006)

Day 84

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If what you’re doing isn’t working then do something different – Dr. Phil C. McGraw

It’s 10: 43 PM on day84 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  a bag of chips  for  breakfast, learn about Exact Equations – I am so happy I’m almost done with Calculus 🙂 – watch the movies Legendary and Prince and Me 4 – I whole-heartedly recommend Legendry it’s all about showing up for life –    feed myself banana  for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – still no new donations – I just want to SCREAM 🙁 – drink tea by myself, feed myself  Pizza for supper –attempted to change into a clean t-shirt – I got my head out but didn’t have much luck with doing the same with my arms  but hey tomorrow is another day 🙂 –     and exercise for 10 minutes – a big shoutout to my sixteen-year-old sister – Neethu – for helping me out with my exercises today – I know that I get most of mommy’s attention because of my disability but please know that you are NOT invisible – I SEE you 🙂

A good leader must be able to adapt to the current situation – change what’s not working and continue with what is – I learned that yesterday when I was reading Conversations with Myself – a book by Nelson Mandela – and with that said I have decided to change tactic slightly with regards to how I get donations for my campaign – I am looking for a sponsor who will donate $10 each time someone tweets for example, Wal-Mart Water Challenge to Wal-Mart. If you’re interested in sponsoring my water challenge then leave a comment with your contact information or email me at nishavarghese_1991@hotmail.com and I will get back to you ASAP 🙂        

Day 83

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“Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible.” ~ Scott Williams

It’s 8: 49PM on day83 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself   Sweet Potatoes with an Onion and Chilli dip for  breakfast,      continued reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela – on page 62 I could literally feel how torn he was between his family and his country – it was heart-breaking 🙁 – feed myself curry and rice for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no new donations as yet but someone did promise to make a donation tomorrow – I am SO happy!!!! 🙂 – feed myself Semi-homemade Pizza for supper – we bought pre-made bases and added toppings – drink a cup of tea by myself – I so happy this time I didn’t even spill a drop on myself 🙂 – and exercise for 15 minutes – my mom and  I were arguing about whether it was right or wrong that my uncle and aunty didn’t tell my granny that they were going to  India for my cousin’s wedding just because they didn’t want to take  her – I was ADAMANT that they were wrong – I can’t get over how badly people treat their parents these days 🙁      

 Growing up I always had this feeling that I was meant to be great and whenever times got tough – as they often did in our house with my parents beating up on each other – both figuratively and literally – I would close my eyes, count backwards from 10 – 10, 9, 8 7, 6, God has a bigger dream for you then you have for yourself – and today I woke up and realized that I am every bit as great as I once thought I would be and the best part is that I don’t believe that I’ve  even stretched the surface of how great I could be my point is faith is not something you only have when your life is all moonshine and roses… faith is believing even when you have every possible reason not to. Is your faith conditional on your circumstance? 🙂

Day 82

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“Reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to stretch your own.” – Charles Scribner, Jr.

It’s 7: 43PM on day82 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself   Whole-Grain Bread and Baked for  breakfast,      continued reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela –I knew of my country’s history through history books of course but never have I felt the history as I did when I was reading the book – can’t wait to read more tomorrow 🙂 – tweeted with my right-hand to improve my mother skills – it was so frustrating I typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace, typed a word, made a mistake, pressed backspace and so on it went for the next 15 minutes until my right-arm started to hurt – exercise for 30 minutes – I was watching my favourite TV show  – Chuck – so I didn’t feel a thing 🙂 –    and     feed myself rice and curry for supper

Before I started reading Conversations with Myself I like many of you had put Nelson Mandela on a pedestal – I was – still am – awestruck by his mere presence on Earth – but reading the first few chapters of the book I realize that Nelson Mandela is just an ordinary man who did something EXTRAORDINARY which suffice to say puts a lot of pressure on me because I too am ordinary. Have you ever wondered what kind of world we would be living in if everybody possessed the same sense of duty that Nelson Mandela has? 🙂

Day 81

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The road to hell is paved with good intentions – Proverb.

It’s 7: 28 PM on day81 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself  Upma – a south Indian dish made of rava – and beef curry for  breakfast,   fix my Facebook button – if you want to get to know the real me add me on Facebook – I am an open book open for all the world to read 🙂 – spend THREE  hours tweeting about my Clean Water For All Campaign – I am so frustrated it’s like all of us are waiting for someone to come and fix all the problems of the world only we don’t realize that each one of us is that somebody –      feed myself  Custard  for lunch – not the most nutritious of lunches but it was yummy nonetheless 🙂 –   continued reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela –just in the first 10-15 pages I began to realize how much respect Mandela had for the leaders who came before him and that is something that I believe is sorely lacking in today’s politics and the world at large – feed myself rice and curry for supper and exercise for 15 minutes – today’s session was just right – nor too painful and  not too pleasurable kinda like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears LOL 🙂  

 Today as we were having supper I saw my brother – who is my 10kg’s overweight – reaching for a fizzy drink inside the fridge and I said don’t drink that have you see your stomach – I know, I know I am a horrible person – what I really meant to say was I love you want you to be healthy and in retrospect I probably should have suggested an alternative to the fizzy drink – I feel like the scum-of-the-Earth right now 🙁 Have you ever said something that came out all wrong?

Day 80

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A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires – Marcus Aurelius.

It’s 7: 21 PM on day80 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself All-Bran Flakes  for breakfast,   learn how to calculate Exact Equations – I wish life was more like Math where every problem had a clearly defined solution(s) but I guess that’s too much to ask   –      feed myself  rice and curry for lunch,  exercise for 30 minutes – getting anyone to help me was a mission and a half – my mother was tired, my father was nowhere to be found, my sister was texting and my brother was eating – so I ended up having to exercise by myself – you know what they say want something done you have to do it yourself 🙂 – and started reading Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela – President Obama wrote the most moving forward I’ve ever read – I got the sense  that President Obama has a great deal of respect for Nelson Mandela – as do I 🙂

Different people have different aspirations some people aspire to wealth and fame while others aspire to peace and happiness and if you’d asked me yesterday what I aspired to I wouldn’t have been able to tell you but in reading the forward written by President Obama I have come to realize that I aspire to Nelson Mandela’s exemplary leadership qualities. What do you aspire to? 🙂

Day 79

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Everybody is HIV positive until proven otherwise – Unknown.  

It’s 7: 40 PM on day 79 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Oats for breakfast,  created a Jango account – I really recommend that website if your a music lover – it allows you to create radio station and only plays songs by your favourite artists –    learn how to calculate Separable Differentials – it was so easy hopefully I’ll finish the chapter by tomorrow  🙂 –      feed myself  rice and curry for lunch     and exercise for 30 minutes – my legs where so still today that they would go straight no matter how hard my mother pressed on them – no two days are the same I suppose hopefully tomorrow my legs will be a lot more cooperative 🙂  

Approximately 5.7 million people in South Africa are living with HIV and although the rate of new infections has dropped there are still new diagnoses being made every day and today being World Aids Day I would like to make two things VERY clear – firstly, you CANNOT contract HIV through touching, hugging or kissing and secondly NOBODY who chooses to have unprotected sex is immune from contracting HIV – black, white or blue HIV does not discriminate. Do you know your status? 🙂

Day 78

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Gratitude – a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.

It’s 7: 00 PM on day 78 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Oats for breakfast,    learn how to calculate Differentials – when I finish this chapter I will have finished the Math syllabus  – I am SO happy 🙂 –  wheel myself to the bed –  my first impulse was to ask my sister to do it for me but in the end I did it by myself because I realized that no one likes a helpless leach LOL 🙂 –      feed myself  rice and curry for lunch     and exercise for 30 minutes – today’s session was surprisingly pleasant I should watch a   movie  while exercising more  often  🙂

Today my brother came to me and said I’m really feeling sorry for myself and I asked him why and he said I have to run around the field three times tomorrow and I said with no self-pity in my voice at least you can run and I guess that’s my message to everyone don’t complain about all the things you have to do just be grateful that you can do them. Do you live in a constant state of gratitude or misery? 🙂

Day 77

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You strike a woman; you strike a rock – Zulu proverb.  

It’s 7: 04 PM on day 77 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself All-Bran Flakes for breakfast,    learn how to calculate Integrals with Substitution – I finally understand it and can now move on to the next chapter – YAY for me! 🙂 –  peeled a banana – made a huge stain on my t-shirt – attempted to take off my stained t-shirt and put on a clean one – I got my head out but our housekeeper had to help me get my arms out of the sleeves and put on a clean t0shirt when the housekeeper was helping me change I thought to myself normal people can change in and out of their clothes without thinking twice about it this is so unfair –      feed myself  rice and curry for lunch     and exercise for 10 minutes –I  am SO tired {yawn}

I have never been an abused woman but every time my father pinned my mother against the wall and raised his hand to her I felt like someone had placed a hot iron on my heart and even though it doesn’t hurt anymore I still bear the scars of my tortured childhood and that’s why I am in full support of the 16 Days of Activisms Against Gender Violence Campaign.  Have you ever been burned by someone that you loved?