By all accounts, I have overcome my disability.  There is no reason why I cannot be considered normal.  You are considered normal based on what you are able to do and not how you do it.  Many people adapt their method for accomplishing any given task and that alteration from the "norm" is often considered a "handicap" whereas a handicap is something that is prohibitting you to doing something at all.

I have striven to be normal and, in doing so, I have discovered what it means to be extraordinary.  The things I do every day, that seem routine to m every day, are marbeled at by others with and without disabilities.  However, no matter how well I can drive a car or no matter how much more weight I can lift at the gym, my disability still exists.

I fell last week and skinned my left forearm by my elbow.  (It's amazing that I couldn't avoid the fall, but I instinctively fell the way that I was trained to while I took taekwondo.  Thank you, Master Maisch!  The scrape scabbed and it was itching today.  I picked at it with my right hand and took off the scab.  Of course it started to bleed.

As strong, fully-abled and independent as I have gotten my body to be, I cannot put neosporin and a bad-aid on my left forearm with my right hand only.  I'm a fully-abled person in the fact that my disability does not impact my abilty to not do anything, but I am still disabled and limited in how much I can do independently.

So I ask my mom for help.  I tell her I scarped it off and I can't put the band-aid on with my right hand.  I clean it off with my right hand, but I do not have the fine motor control to put the band-aid flat across the injury.  I will either fold the band-aid or my hand will shake too much to put the band-aid on the cut cleanly.  It doesn't mean that I can't do it, just that I recognize I  need help and I am not afraid to ask for help when needed.

I embrace my independence, but a significant part of being independent is knowing when you need help.  I know what I can do on my own with my disability, and I know how my disability can still be isolated.  When that happens, I have no problem asking my family or friends for help.  They all know how far I have come.  They don't view me asking them for help as my being weak, but simply recognizing that I know they are here to love and help me.  Beyond anything else, that has been my ultimate motivation for gaining my independence-- knowing that at any time they are there to help me get where I'm pushing myself to go.

Instructions

Log onto Facebook.
Click inside the search box.
Type "Determination"
There is now an FB page that you can "Like"
"Like" it and invite EVERYONE you know!
(Good grief Web 2.0 is so damn echausting!  You can never keep up.  Speaking of which, I am two weeks behind on Twitter now...)

But the most important thing right now, find Determination on Facebook and invite your friends =)

This paragraph is separate from the other content of the blog, but I got my first rejection letter for An Uncharted Life.  I think I’m going to frame it.

Now: Blog.
I’ve been having to post my blogs in mass now because of how my daily routine has changed with working full-time.  I’m still trying to maintain my usual routine, but time is more of a critical factor while factoring in an 8-hour work schedule into that daily routine now.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just puts things into perspective.

I have always managed myself well and made the most out of my time.  Writing these blogs is important to me because I really don’t see the point of a blog if you write in it 3 times a year or a month.  Everyone has something to say every day—and believe me, I know we all know that—so I have no reason to find time to write something here for a majority of the days in a month.

I go to the gym before work and I work 8:30-5.  I’m hungry and tired when I leave work so all I really want to do when I get home is eat dinner, stretch out on the couch with my DVR recordings and work on Determination, if I am motivated enough.  I usually tend to find the motivation since we all know how much this means to me and why.  So what do I do?  I make the time.

I do the blog on my lunch hour, email it to my gmail account and hopefully have time to post it when I get home.  Like I said, things get busy and I am sorry for any delay.  You make time to get stuff in your day and you need to do that if you want to enjoy your day, unless you are one of the lucky few who can do your life passion as your career (Don’t worry, I am getting there!).  The point is that finding a way to get it done adds to both the quantity and quality of your routine.

It may be stressful to try and fit everything into your day, but you are voluntarily doing these activities.  You do them because you enjoy them and, even though not doing them may make your day less hectic, it also makes your day less enjoyable.  So yeah, make the most out of life may be cliché, but this is what it means.  I want to enjoy life and the best way to ensure it is to make use of any time that is spent not being productive.  I’m not saying that not doing anything is unproductive.  Time wasted is merely time not enjoyed, and there are many a time where I enjoy simply taking a half hour and lounging or doing nothing altogether.

Just make the most out of it.  You may be exhausted by the end of the day, but honestly we are going to be exhausted anyways.  Why not just be exhausted with a smile?  Soon enough it will become your natural routine and there is no better feeling or way to end a day than feeling good about the day you had and how it’s impacting you.

I saw two women smoking today as I was waiting for the bus.  He first woman decides to light up and smoke the entire cigarette standing right at the front of the bus stop amongst everyone else.  Why do you decide to smoke right where everyone congregates as they wait for the bus?  It’s a disruption to others because you are creating pollution for people near you.  I listen to my Ipod and, if I played it a loud enough level, I would be disrupting others around me in a similar fashion.  Just because you are ruining your health does not mean you have to do so amongst everyone else and make us sick in the process.  Go to the back of the sidewalk, where everyone else smokes, and get away from the mass of public commuters that are just waiting for the bus to come.

The second woman, who is smoking while sitting on the bench as she is waiting for the bus, is waiting for the bus specifically for those employed by The National Institute for Science and Technology.  And that is all I have to say about her...

(My friend, however, decides to add that "well she's clearly working on a lung replacement study, so smoking isn"t a problem."  Gosh, I love my friends!)