Everyone says I have a fantastic story to share about life. When people say I say it’s just what I was given, I had to make the best of the life I was given. However, I want to tell my story, but I have a lot more to learn about life and about myself. During the Pandemic, I started the journey because I was forced to be locked in my apartment. I moved out of my family’s home for the first time and it was six months into a 4-year Pandemic. I could only visit with a small pod of people for the first year and a half, leaving plenty of time for me to become best friends with my computer.
My computer became the best friend I needed, and it didn’t judge me. I would sit at the computer most of the day and write what was on my mind and in my heart. Some of the stuff I would write about was hard to face, while others were fun to remember. The writing was therapeutic for me. I learned to talk about my challenges, even if I was just just talking to my computer.
While talking to the computer, I was able to put different parts of my life into perspective. I saw that being afraid of who I was hindering myself from reaching my full potential.
A lot of people would expect my life to get harder during the pandemic with such limited help, but instead, it opened me up in many ways, even though I was shut inside. Even though the Pandemic made my challenges even more difficult, it didn’t make them any less beautiful.
Challenges can be beautiful in many ways. It can be hard to see how beautiful challenges can be if you are the one with said challenges. For example, I was living on my own for the first time, and I was managing my own place by myself. Even though I had limited help, I had unlimited creativity. I was able to make my apartment my own style. I could plan my own meals and cook them in my own pots and pans, and do my own laundry. It was challenging, but I grew to love who I was and what I could become.
For the first time in my life, I was able to fall in love the right way by getting closer with a good friend of mine. I used my computer for this, too. This is just one of many ways my computer helped me. I was able to use it to travel all around the world. I got to know what the pandemic was like in different countries.
The challenge of the pandemic was made beautiful by giving me a new way to explore the world online. My world became so much more than I ever thought I could have. While learning about my beautiful challenges during the pandemic, I also saw how to forgive myself. Even though I never showed it, I held it in my mind that my disability would stop me from having the life that I wanted.
During this whole journey, I learned that whether you are born with a disability or acquire one in life, challenges are beautiful. Once I saw myself, I took a turn in life, making me accept who I was. I know how difficult it could be looking past our negativity, but there comes a time when we must look beyond what we see in ourselves, and what other people see in us. Every obstacle we overcome has a purpose and a meaning.
When overcoming a struggle, I don’t see it as anything significant. I just see it as part of life. Whether you were born with a disability or acquired one in life, believe it or not, our challenges are beautiful. It took me a long time to see that in myself. Once I saw that in myself, I took a turn in life, making me accept who I am. I know how difficult it can be to look past our negativity, but there comes a time when we have to start looking beyond what we see in ourselves and what people see in us. Every obstacle we overcome has a purpose and meaning. When overcoming a struggle, I don’t see it as anything significant; I just see it as a part of life. As a kid, I used to fall, then just get up and move on like nothing happened. People used to ask me how I could do that; I would just say it’s a part of life. It’s not that I don’t see my challenges or seek help for them; I just try not to let them get to me. If I try not to let my difficulties get to me, then when people meet and get to know me, they don’t see my disability. They see the person I am, and isn’t that what you want people to see in the long run?
Challenge means: A call to participate in a contest or a competition, especially a duel. When I look at this definition, I think about what I was like in the past. I thought I was competing with my peers. I realized I wasn’t competing with my peers. I was competing with my disability. By competing with myself, I lost more time than if I just went with the flow and my challenges. Yet, I would not change a thing. Whether they were the challenges I was born with or the challenges I added to life, they made me who I am.
Results may vary based on the life you’re living. Your challenges won’t be identical to mine, but there are ways to make them beautiful. I invite you to look at ways to broaden your horizon even if you don’t or can’t leave the comfort of your own home.
OUR BEAUTIFUL CHALLENGES 