Tag Archives: special needs

Day 1000: We don’t always get what we deserve

We don’t always get what we deserve  –that’s what I keep learning.

It’s  2 :  57 PM on day 1 000 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to  brush my teeth, pray, read Deuteronomy 17, publish my Disability of the Day feature,  publish my  Kid of the Week feature, tweet and Facebook about my campaign –  no luck – stretch my hamstrings,  feed myself All Bran Flakes for breakfast,    tweet and Facebook about my campaign  some more-   still no luck although someone did promise to donate I suppose that’s something  –  and practice typing with both hands.

As I sit at our dining table typing this I feel sluggish and bloated which sucks because I  eat lots of fibre, drink boatloads of water and exercise to avoid the constipation that comes with having Cerebral Palsy I try so hard to do to everything right and life still treats me like crap it’s just so unfair.    Are you aggrieved when you do most things right and life still treats you like crap?

Day 999: Throwing out our concepts of normal and abnormal

Our perception of normal is getting in the way of us treating each other with equality– that’s what I keep learning

It’s  6  : 12 PM on day 999 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth,  read Deuteronomy 16,   publish my Disability of the Day feature,  tweet, Facebook and email about my campaign – Annonymus and Steve Opperman donated $10 and $20 respectively yesterday (thanks guys) which brings me $30 closer to my goal – feed myself All Bran Flakes for breakfast, go visit people, feed myself a chicken sandwich for lunch and practice typing with both hands.

A couple of days ago I was watching Planet Earth and I wondered why snakes weren’t referred to as disabled although they were blind in the moment it dawned on me that people don’t refer to snakes as disabled because a snake being blind is “normal” if we threw out our concepts of normal and abnormal and realized that everybody is their own version of normal discrimination would be a thing of the past.  Is you perception of normal getting in the way of you treating other people with equality?

Day 998: Surrendering to God

Do what you can and leave the rest up to God  – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s  2  : 19 PM on day 998 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth,  publish my Disability of the Day feature,  read Deuteronomy 15,   tweet, Facebook and email about my campaign – no luck today I still need to raise $538 in 38 days but I’m not giving up –  stretch my hamstrings,  practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles,  make sandwiches as part of Virginia’s Sandwich Run with our housekeeper’s help,   feed myself All Bran Flakes for breakfast, change my t-shirt and practice typing with both hands.

As you may know I am a bit of a control freak I do things and expect favourable outcomes all the time but today I realized there’s only so much I can do the rest is up to God. Do you do what you can and leave the rest up to God or try to control the outcomes of all your actions?

Day 997: Breaking up big goals into smaller goals

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time– that’s what I keep learning 🙂

It’s  4  : 09 PM on day 997 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth,  read Deuteronomy 14,   publish my Disability of the Day feature,  tweet, Facebook and email about my campaign – my dad made a $30 donation today (thank you daddy)    – take off my dirty jacket and t-shirt and put on a clean t-shirt, stretch my hamstrings,  practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles,  feed myself All Bran Flakes and a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast,  pitch my story to the Huffington Post – any sort of media attention makes me acutely uncomfortable but when you’re doing something of a philanthropic nature it is essential to get as many eyes on your project as possible so i’m asking bloggers to write blog posts about my campaign and making myself available for print interviews (if you’re a blogger and would like to write a blog post about my campaign email me) – spend time outside   and  practice typing with both hands.

Today I realized yet again that everything in life is a process someone doesn’t just decide ok I’m going to run a ninety-six kilometre marathon tomorrow they first run five kilometres, then ten kilometres and eventually they are able to run the ninety-six kilometre marathon in the same way I think all of us should break our big goals up into smaller goals.  Do you set huge goals and expect to achieve them within days?

Day 996: See what you want and work backwards to get it

See what you want and work backwards to get it – that’s what I keep learning 🙂

It’s  3  : 41 PM on day 996 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth,  read Deuteronomy 13,   publish my Disability of the Day feature,  tweet  and Facebook about my campaign – the donation I said was not appearing on the page yesterday finally appeared this morning a HUGE thanks to Wayne of the Jindalee Foundation Australia for his generous contribution of $100 now I only need to raise $613 in 40 days to reach my goal 🙂  –stretch my hamstrings,  practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles,  feed myself All Bran Flakes and a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, promote my campaign some more – no further luck – and  practice typing with both hands.

Today I realized I want to be happy, independent and help people I can see the life I want it’s just making it a reality that’s proving to be difficult people say stuff like all you need to do is visualize and all your dreams will turn into reality but the truth is nothing’s going to happen if all you do is visualize you have to see what you want and work backwards to get it. Do you see what you want and are you working backwards to get it?

Day 995: Declaring war on slavery

“We will only truly be free when those in bondage are finally free.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu

It’s  3  : 10 PM on day 995 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth,  read Deuteronomy 12,   prepare and publish my Disability of the Day feature, stretch my hamstrings,  practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles,  feed myself All Bran Flakes and a boiled egg for breakfast,  tweet about my campaign –  someone did donate but for some reason it’s not showing up on the page so technically i still need to raise $713 to reach my goal to hell with my pride i’ll ask my dad to make a donation he’ll never let me forget it but that’s okay it’s for a good cause – and  practice typing with both hands.

Today I came across Lisa Kristine: Photos that bear witness to modern slavery – a Ted Talk by photographer Lisa Kristine who travelled around the world photographing modern-day slavery – seeing pictures of men, women and children affected by slavery has reminded me that what I’m doing really matters now I will stop at nothing to reach my goal I don’t care who I have to ask for help or what people think of me I will play my part to end slavery. Watch Lisa Kristine: Photos that bear witness to modern slavery below then donate to my anti-slavery campaign benefiting the Not For Sale Campaign:

Day 994: All of us are a work-in-progress

All of us are a work-in-progress we should embrace that and stop being so self-critical – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s  4  : 22 PM on day 994 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Deuteronomy 11,  publish my Disability of the Day feature, stretch my hamstrings,  put on a jacket, feed myself All Bran Flakes and a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast,  tweet about my campaign –  no luck today – and  practice typing with both hands.

Today I realized that all of us are a work-in- progress and that we should embrace that and stop being so self-critical I am my own worst critic sometimes I catch myself saying to myself you’re twenty-two and still need your parents to take you to the bathroom fantastic it’s one of the things I dislike most about myself I compare myself to other people my age instead of running my own race maybe one of these days I’ll learn how to stop doing that like I said all of us are a work-in-progress. Do you accept that you will forever be a work-in-progress?

Day 993: Hall of Fame by The Script ft. will.i.am

“Words make you think. Music makes you feel. A song makes you feel a thought.” ― Yip Harburg

It’s  4  :  28 PM on day 993 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, brush my teeth,practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles,  feed myself All Bran Flakes and a boiled egg for breakfast,  read Deuteronomy 10,   publish my Disability of the Day feature,  publish my  Kid of the Week feature, practice typing with both hands, stretch my hamstrings and tweet and Facebook about my campaign –  no luck today but yesterday two donors who chose to donate anonymously donated $50 each which means I only need to raise $713 more to reach my goal.

A couple of days ago I heard Hall of Fame by The Script ft. will.i.am it’s such an awesome song it pushes me to do more and be more. Listen to Hall of Fame below:

Day 992: No matter how careful you are whatever is meant to happen will happen

No matter how careful you are whatever is meant to happen will happen – that’s what I keep learning.

It’s  5  :  07 PM on day 992 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, take off my dirty t-shirt and put on a clean t-shirt, pray,  practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, spend time with my family, feed myself a sweet potato and a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, read Deuteronomy 9,  publish my Disability of the Day feature, make sandwiches as part of Virginia’s Sandwich Run with our housekeeper’s help and  practice typing with both hands.

Today I realized once again that no matter how careful you are whatever is meant to happen will happen so I’m choosing not to freak out about every little thing regarding my health. Do you believe that if you do everything just right you can prevent bad things from happening?

Day 991: How to prevent/alleviate some of the conditions associated with Cerebral Palsy

God gives us suffering so we can use it to help others– that’s what I keep learning 🙂

It’s  5  : 57 PM on day 991 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, read Deuteronomy 8,  publish my Disability of the Day feature,  take off my dirty jacket and t-shirt and put on a clean t-shirt, stretch my hamstrings, practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles,  feed myself All Bran Flakes and a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, email, tweet and Facebook about my campaign –  still no luck – and  practice typing with both hands.

This morning after going through the painful process of having my hamstrings stretched I realized once again that God gives us suffering so we can use it to help others so today I’m going to share with you some tips on how you can prevent/alleviate some of the most common conditions associated with Cerebral Palsy. Take a look:

How to prevent/alleviate some of the conditions associated with Cerebral Palsy

To alleviate Acid Reflux I:

  • Wear loose-fitting clothing (wearing tight-fitting clothing will push the acid in your stomach up)
  • Avoid eating late at night  (apparently the stomach is least active at night that combined with the fact that we lay down soon after we eat pushes the acid upwards)
  • Avoid caffeine, acidic foods, spicy foods and fatty foods (caffeinated foods/drinks, acidic foods, spicy foods and fatty foods make acid reflux worse)

To alleviate Constipation I:

  • Drink water (water makes the stool softer and easier to pass )
  • Eat foods that are high in fibre and foods that contain sorbitol (apples, pears and prunes are high in fibre and contain sorbitol)
  • Exercise (exercise helps move the stool along)

To alleviate spasticity (constant contraction of specific muscles) I:

  • Have someone stretch my hamstrings out for me every day
  • Sleep with a pillow between my legs

To prevent bone problems I:

  • Take a calcium supplement once a week and make sure my diet is rich in calcium as per my doctor’s advice.