Perspective: Looking On The Bright Side...

Gaining perspective. Sometimes, we all need to take a step back, realise what we have around us, and realise that life really is what you make of it. 

Confession time: I use a wheelchair because I cannot walk. 

I used to see my wheelchair as my BIGGEST weakness. No joke. And I guess for a while, I let it be my weakness. That was all over when I suddenly realised that the wheelchair was my ally. It had opened up so many doors for me (pardon the pun). Being in a wheelchair had shown me life in a way I don’t think I could have seen it if I was able bodied, in all honesty.

I began to work with wheelchair independence charity Go Kids Go!, at the age of ten and I suddenly came out of my shell, it wasn’t just because I was beginning to realise that there were strategies to become independent and confident in my own wheelchair skills, it was that I met other children my age who were also wheelchair users. That, I believe, was my golden ticket for getting me to where I am now. 

Eight years later, I realise now that, yes, I am in a wheelchair (but more importantly; that it does not define me). Yes, I have a condition which means that I can’t walk. That’s fine with me, just as long as I can create, inspire and volunteer my time to causes that make me so grateful to be a part of something that I believe in with my whole entire heart on a daily basis, allowing me to believe that this was what I was born to do, then I will be a happy lady.

Here’s the way I see it: My wheelchair, I now realise, is not the end of the road. It was the beginning of a long, scary, amazing, beautiful, crazy journey that has had its ups and downs over the years. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. I believe that those situations that, at the time, I thought I couldn’t recover from - I did just that. I dusted myself off, put my smile on my face, the smile that I’d once heard had brightened someone’s day, and I kept going. I just kept going. That’s the thing about life. It goes on. 

One lesson (out of many!) that I have learned throughout my wheelchair-using experience (or Life as I call it), probably the biggest lesson, is this:

Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, they do not control you. The way you react to the circumstance is the make-or-break in the situation. 

So, lovely, I urge you to look at a circumstance that might be very scary for you, and decide - how you are going to tackle this? With a smile or with a frown? ‘Cause I bet if you turn that frown upside down, you might just find that the world around you is a little bit brighter.