Impossible --> I'm Possible.
My whole life my parents never made things easy on me. Sure, it probably took a lot of patience for them, and of course a lot of frustration for me but I believe that was the best thing for me. You see, I've never been someone who asks for help, even the smallest things that don't even have to do with me not having an arm. I never understood why I was like that. Maybe (probably) it was just because I'm that stubborn or maybe I just didn't want to bother someone to help me? I didn't realize until recently that that part of my personality is more than likely associated with the "tough love" I was given throughout my life. I use "tough love" in the most respectful way possible and as more of a motivational quality than anything. I hear stories from my parents all the time about when I was learning to crawl, tie my shoes, zip my coat, or learn how to do any type of sports activity and they always tell me that they just sat back and waited for me to figure out a way to accomplish the task in my own way. No, they didn't just leave me sitting by the door for hours trying to zip my coat but they only did it for me after I had tried over and over by myself. Eventually with all those tasks, I learned my own way of accomplishing them and they didn't even have to think about trying to help me. That worked out perfectly for me.
As I got older, that "tough love" just kind of stuck with me. My teachers, friends, and coaches never took it easy on me. Maybe my parents got to them early enough to tell them to let me figure things out on my own, but maybe they just saw that "I don't need help" type of attitude I had. Who knows but I'm grateful for that "tough love." Now, I'm not saying that everyone with a limb difference or other
disability learns that way or shouldn't ever be helped because they need to figure it out on their own. I would never tell a parent of a child missing an arm that they can't help their child because they won't learn. We're not all as stubborn as I am. (Thank Goodness) The only way I would say something along those lines would be that giving a child a good amount of time to try the task on their own shows them that they are very capable of everyday things which will in-turn also show them that they can do anything they set their mind to. If a parent is swooping in all the time just to do everything for their child, the child will think they don't need to do anything themselves because someone else will just do it or they will think that it's impossible for them to accomplish a task on their own. This video of Camden helping his brother is a perfect example of letting children figure things out on their own. I love this video because he's just being a good big brother even though it probably took him hundreds of tries to figure out how to help his little brother.
Philippians 4:13 has always spoken to me personally. It reads: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This was a lifestyle to me. Yes, God will always have my back through everything, but it also stuck with me because of just the first 5 words. "I can do all things." As I got into junior high and high school, I became very involved in sports and I always felt like I had a disadvantage. I felt like I was always trying to prove myself. I never ran into any kind of bullying or teasing through school and I feel very lucky but that also could have been because I never let anything get to me because "I can do all things." Honestly, I believe whole-heartedly that my personality is straight from that "tough love." Sure, I've had my set backs, especially in sports but I always knew that anything was possible for me. Anything might not be easy, but anything is possible.
This is a video of me that I'm reluctant to show because I don't like a lot of attention but it might inspire someone somewhere so here it is.
Comments
Post a Comment