Last post Thu, Apr 24 2008 1:56 PM by RachelACornell. 2 replies.
Hi All,
You can tell me to go blow, but I rather you didn't. I'm legally blind and have had a "disability" from birth.
I am writing what I hope will be an important book for many people. In my book I talk about how .
1) Just because you have a disability or become disabled it does not mean that what you are suppose to do with your life is in any way disabled.
2) Often, if your willing to see the possabilities, the worst thing that has ever happened to you can end up being the best thing.
3) How to find and live from the part of you that is unchanging, dispite any external situations that may have happened in your life.
I have huge passion for what I am writing about. Here's a re-print from a published post on my blog:
A bit of an intro to me and my book
I have some issues related to my sight and yet I love the visual arts. I also have a passion for language (despite dyslexia). I love poetry, music, and most of the social and behavioral sciences. I'm inspired by theater, dance and human interaction. These are some of the things that simply make my soul sing. I am convinced that we all have a master list of loves and passions that are unique to us and are a part of us for our entire life. When we live by the list, so to speak, we have peace of mind, and when we're not referring to it in our actions, we are not of service to our self or others. You may have forgotten the list, ignored it, tried to set it on fire, or not even known you had one at all. WAY TOO OFTEN we decide, or maybe we're told, or both, that what we love is not an option for us. Try consciously or unconsciously to erase that list, and I promise you it will show up in the strangest places. In the weave of your living-room curtains, rolling across the credits of a movie screen or tattooed on your forearm. You can't escape it, it's as much a part of you as your next inhalation. A friend once said, "you can't hold an inner tube underwater forever. The longer you try to, the greater the eruption when it finally surfaces." If you suppress your list, your spark for living is submerged. So before you go and electrocute yourself and zap those around you, let me help you learn how to power up your life! I don't care about your circumstances by the way. If you had Polio as a kid, and always, always, always wanted to be a dancer, then I say dance! If you had a career as a painter and then had a spinal cord injury, I say paint anyway. You would not have been handed your list without also being given a clever enough brain to bring that list to life. Yes but...I lost my perfect jobI lost my perfect legI have to support my kidsI can't support my weightIII believe there is always a way! By the way, you don't need to OVERCOME anything. That's bull anyway. You might not ever fully get "over" some of the more painful experiences in your life. Let it be the kindling that gets you to the starting line. You don't even have to have a good attitude. A good attitude is over-rated anyway. Notice, a few paragraphs up, I said "peace of mind." I did not say, "you'll be happy." Peace of mind is something that runs much deeper and you can have it even when you're in a dour mood. All you need to start out with is a willingness. Hell, you can even get started if you don't have the willingness. Just be willing to be open to becoming willing.... If you are reading or listening to this in a wheelchair in some skanky V.A. hospital, or barely holding back the panic about all the bills and debt collectors staring you in the face, this might not be funny or cute to you. Don't laugh. Just get willing, because I want you to have the chance to live from your "list."
__________________
So there's a bit of what the book talks about.
You can read more of the proccess I am going through to write it at:
http://whynotrachel.wordpress.com
What I need is to talk to people. I have the perspective of always being disabled and how that has effected my life, I need to talk to people who maybe became disabled later in their lives as well as people with a number of diferent kinds of disabilities.
If you would like to talk to me - If you are feeling stuck and what I wrote got you kind of hopeful I want to talk to you! Or if you have been stuck in the past and you think you have ideas that might help other people I want to talk to you. If you just want to talk to me about what your life is like, I want to talk to you!
Go to my blog:
and fill out the fields on the comment page OR
email me at:
rzamek@msn.com
OF COURSE you can just reply right here at disaboom!
Thank you so much for being a part of this important project to help all people who feel "disababled" in some way!
All my best,
Rachel
Rachel, great attitude. Thanks so much for sharing it with the community.
Thanks Daniel, it means a lot to get your feedback!
