How are You using Your ‘Disability’?

Puzzling question right? I know some might be thinking ‘I don’t have disability’ but trust me, we all have. Stop before you read any further and have a 30 second think. What is your disability?

Still don’t think you have? You do! Failures, disappointments, idiosyncrasies, personal character traits, even some things which seem perfectly normal to us could be really off putting to others. So what are your lemons? Is there anything that is distressing you that you constantly talk about and perhaps moan to others about? Have you ever thought how that might depress someone else or make them have a negative image of you so much so that they may want to avoid being around you?

We have! And writing this blog has helped us to start to consider these things and to think whether we want to leave others yearning to be around us or whether we turn them off and make them wants to avoid us. That’s what we mean by your disability. Some people view a glass as half full, while others view the same glass as half empty. Same glass. Different view. The different view says a lot about the individual viewing it.

Even if it is quite obvious to everyone looking on that a situation is gloomy, the gloom does not have to be passed on as total devastation. In fact from every negative can come a few positives.

I once read an inspiring story about two men who were very ill and shared a hospital room. There was only one window in the room. As one of the men was not able to sit up whilst in hospital, the other man would look out the window and would vividly describe the view. There was a park, a lake, swans swimming, children playing and lovers walking along the garden path amongst beautiful flowers. The other man lived for the moment and he would close his eyes and just imagine the beauty. The man looking through the window was very good with words and with describing. Their friendship continued for some time until one morning when the nurse came in to wash the men it was discovered that the man by the window had died in his sleep.

The other man was at a loss as they had become friends during that time. After the body was removed, the man asked if he could be moved to his friends bed by the window. His wish was granted and he willed himself to get better as he could not wait to see the glorious scenes passing by the window that his friend had described.

One day he gained the needed strength and propped himself up to see out the window. In eager anticipation he looked out and to his surprise the window looked out to a brick wall! He asked the nurse about this. He was told that his friend was blind and could not have even seen the brick wall! He was shocked by this but came to understand that his friend was just trying to encourage him to get better. The friend could easily have moaned and groaned all day about his inability to see and not be able to help himself much, but he knew that that would have depressed his friend and delay his recovery.

So what’s your disability and how are you using it? You may have a thorn but you don’t have to be thorn in someone’s flesh. You might live a miserable existence (in your own eyes) but you don’t have to make everyone else around you depressed by moaning about your story. There is always something to give thanks for and to quote my grandmother, ‘Thank God you are alive. Some people wake up dead!’ So think about it. How are you using your disability?

Go out and do a good deed for someone else. In fact, I dare you to do the lemon challenge and see how positives can come out of negative situations!

Have a great week ahead being the best you can be!

xoxo