There are a slew of things that I worry about on a routine basis: will that spider drop on my head and lay eggs in my ears while I'm sleeping? Will I stay employed? Will my wheel get stuck in the gap between the train and the platform? Will I get stuck in the elevator? Will my wheelchair suddenly break down? Will I find another gray hair in the morning?
Here are some other "But what if's" that I have:
What if I...
- Get into a car crash. Commercials that showcase a car's safety features with the billowing air bags that explode on impact into the face of a crash dummy freak me out. There should be no need for explanation as to why that is the case.
- Am alone when I sustain a fracture. Seeing whether or not I can reach the highest cabinet in the kitchen by climbing on top of my wheelchair, and then swinging from the knobs on the cabinets is probably a bad idea.. but particularly if I am home alone. I am also not great about having my cellphone near by in case I need to reach 911.
- Start fracturing a lot again. I have heard that my 20's will probably be my most stable period in terms of physical health (especially for someone with type III). The frequencies of fractures has dwindled and I am able to put all my energy into life goals without being tripped up by healing time or bones breaking. I dread the day when the frequency of my fractures increase once again; I am afraid I will not be able to have the same stamina and energy as I did when I was a child.
But as a friend once told me "you can't what if your life away.." It's up to us to turn our worries into sources of motivation for action. Whether small or large, there is always going to be a risk and a consequence to whatever we do -- and some of those consequences we might not even foresee. If we were able to tell the future then I'm pretty sure my parents wouldn't have let me off my bed for fear of the fractures I sustained, but then what would the results have been had they decided to do that?
I once heard someone say "the only things worth doing are the things we fear.." And I agree with that to some extent. Obviously if it risks our safety and life then these are not the decisions we should go through with; however, if it makes us feel a little uncomfortable it's not because we necessarily dislike the situation instead we are experiencing the physical act of learning. The wonderful thing about life perspective is that it is never set in stone, and we really don't need to consciously do much in order to continually expand that perspective - each time we are learning something it adds to that spectrum of perspective. Discomfort, uncertainty, and fears in these instances are then fleeting because the next day will provide a new set of uncertainties and "what if's"; the trick is to never forget what you've already accomplished and recycle that energy to continually push yourself further.
We can all be energizer bunnies, but whether or not we decide to flip the switch to "on" is all in your hands. You can start today.
I once heard someone say "the only things worth doing are the things we fear.." And I agree with that to some extent. Obviously if it risks our safety and life then these are not the decisions we should go through with; however, if it makes us feel a little uncomfortable it's not because we necessarily dislike the situation instead we are experiencing the physical act of learning. The wonderful thing about life perspective is that it is never set in stone, and we really don't need to consciously do much in order to continually expand that perspective - each time we are learning something it adds to that spectrum of perspective. Discomfort, uncertainty, and fears in these instances are then fleeting because the next day will provide a new set of uncertainties and "what if's"; the trick is to never forget what you've already accomplished and recycle that energy to continually push yourself further.
We can all be energizer bunnies, but whether or not we decide to flip the switch to "on" is all in your hands. You can start today.
