Calm the heck down– that’s what I learned today.
It’s 3 : 13 PM on day 1517 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Isaiah 4, publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself egg with bread for breakfast, work on a surprise and have lunch.
Today something unexpected happened and I just started freaking out I just started freaking out I learned I should calm the heck down because things almost always work out.
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
– Matthew 23: 1-12
It’s 12 : 30 PM on day 1511 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Songs of Songs 6, publish my Disability of the Day feature, publish my Kid of the Week feature, promote my Educate Generations campaign – Anonymous made a donation of $20 yesterday (thank you SO MUCH Anonymous your contribution and support mean the world to me 🙂 ) which brings my total raised to $770 only $1730 more to raise – feed myself bread with egg for breakfast, go to church and continue promoting my campaign – still on $770 but that’s okay things could be worse 🙂
This morning in church the reverend talked about the three criticisms that Jesus had of religious leaders in Matthew 23 and although the sermon wasn’t directed at me specifically from this day forward I’m going to try to do things in a way that draws less attention to me and more attention to God.
Just because some people don’t notice or appreciate what you do doesn’t mean that what you do isn’t important – that’s what I keep realizing.
It’s 1 : 52 PM on day 1510 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Song of Song 5, publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself egg with bread and a pear for breakfast, and promote my Educate Generations campaign – still on $750 but I am going to have a really good attitude about this Nelson Mandela and company spent years of their lives fighting for freedom so that someone like me could have a chance to change the world so I’m not going to give up with God working in me and through me I will reach campaign goal eventually I just KNOW it 🙂
This morning something happened that made me realize yet again that just because some people don’t notice or appreciate what I do doesn’t mean that what I do isn’t important the truth is there are some people in my life who will never notice or appreciate the things I do and I have to learn to accept that and give myself the pat on the back that I wish I got from them. Do you feel like what you do isn’t important when people don’t notice or appreciate it?
Challenges are necessary for human evolution – that’s what I keep realizing.
It’s 1 : 45 PM on day 1509 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Song of Songs 4, publish my Disability of the Day feature, stretch my hamstrings, feed myself egg with bread for breakfast, do some techy stuff for this blog and promote my Educate Generations campaign – still on $750.
Recently I have been challenged in a number of ways and although at first it made me uncomfortable I now see my challenges as a blessing because the things that are challenging me are the very same things that are changing me and helping me grow. Do you embrace challenge?
I will stand by you
When all of your dreams are shattered
And your world is left in tatters
When you’ve lost we lost together
I’ll stand by, I will stand by you
If black is your brightest color
If hurt is your only lover
When you fight, we fight together
I’ll stand by, I will stand by you
I will stand by you
I will stand by you
I will stand by you
– Marlisa, “Stand by You”
It’s 12 : 44 PM on day 1507 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Song of Solomon 2, publish my Disability of the Day feature, promote my Educate Generations campaign – on $750– stretch my hamstrings, feed myself a peanut butter sandwich and a banana for breakfast and continue promoting my campaign – still on $750 but that’s okay I know that God is working behind the scenes to help me I just have to keep telling the world why I’m doing what I’m doing 🙂
Yesterday I heard “Stand By You” by Marlisa and let’s just say if YouTube’s replay button could be broken I would have broke it that’s how many times I’ve listened to this song since yesterday. Listen to “Stand By You” by Marlisa below:
Life works on the principal of reciprocity – that’s what I figured out today.
It’s 1 : 17 PM on day 1505 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Ecclesiastes 12, publish my Disability of the Day feature, stretch my hamstrings, feed myself a peanut butter sandwich and a banana for breakfast and promote my Educate Generations campaign – still on $750 but things could be a lot worse 🙂
Today I figured out that life works on the principal of reciprocity if you interact genuinely with people, give more than you take and work hard the things you want will come to you. Do you apply the principal of reciprocity in your daily life?
In life not everyone will support the things you do and that’s okay because you want people on your side who share your beliefs and values – that’s what I want the world to know.
It’s 12 : 09 PM on day 1500 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Ecclesiastes 7, publish my Disability of the Day feature, promote my Educate Generations campaign – Duane Dell’Oca made a donation of $250 yesterday (thank you SO MUCH Duane your generosity has moved me more than I can ever express) which brings my total raised to $710 only $1790 more to raise 
– feed myself a peanut butter sandwich and a banana for breakfast, spend some time outside – it’s a beautiful blue-sky day where I live I felt (and still feel) so fortunate to be alive to see it – and continue promoting my campaign – still on $710 but that’s okay I just have to keep telling the story of why I’m doing what I’m doing and the rest will take care of itself 🙂
Today I realized that not everyone will support the things I do and strangely I was okay with that because I want people on my side who share my beliefs and values. Do you want everybody to support everything you do or are you focused on connecting with like-minded people?
Just because society gives you a free pass doesn’t mean you should take it – that’s my message to differently-abled people everywhere.
It’s 12 : 09 PM on day 1498 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Ecclesiastes 5, publish my Disability of the Day feature, promote my Educate Generations campaign – no donations so far today – stretch my hamstrings, feed myself bran flakes with banana and milk for breakfast and continue promoting my campaign – still no donations it’s okay though because I know that God is working behind the scenes to help me all I have to do is keep telling the story of why I’m doing what I’m doing in as many different ways as possible.
This morning I was thinking about how society has given me a free pass all I have to do is sit on my wheelchair smiling and people call me inspirational but every day I choose to earn those wonderful labels that people put on me. Do you take the free pass that society gives you?
You choose what defines you – that’s what I keep realizing.
It’s 12 : 00 PM on day 1493 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Proverbs 31, publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself peanut butter sandwich and a banana for breakfast and promote my Educate Generations campaign – no donations so far today but my friend and creator of #DadChat, Bruce Sallan, made a donation of $72 yesterday (thank you SO MUCH Bruce your donation and ongoing support means a lot to me) which brings my total raised to $360 only $2140 more to raise
Yesterday I read something that made me notice that some people are so defined by their “disabilities” it’s a little different for me Cerebral Palsy is an ever present part of my life like my eye colour or my hair colour but I choose not to let it define me I don’t talk about it unless I think it could benefit others in some way. Are you defined by your challenges?
Success is the result of days of hard work – that’s what I keep realizing.
It’s 2 : 07 PM on day 1492 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Proverbs 30, publish my Disability of the Day feature, stretch my hamstrings, feed myself egg with bread and a banana for breakfast and promote my Educate Generations campaign – today has been a very good day so far first my friend, Sue Levy, wrote a great post about the Educate Generations campaign titled Please support Nisha and then Anonymous donated $20 (thank you Sue and Anonymous I appreciate your support more than you’ll ever know).
Today I realized yet again that success is the result of days of hard work some days I work extremely hard on things and I have nothing to show for it but I get up and try again the next day because I know that my hard work will produce results one day. Are you putting in the hard work required to become successful?