Mindset - Wellness Wednesday
A Facebook memory popped up this weekend about my first day using a wheelchair. It was a crappy “hospital chair” that weighed 50 pounds and was in no way built for my specific needs. I talked about being angry at first and then quickly realizing that the wheelchair gave me the freedom to move around my house safely and relatively pain free for the first time in years. At the time I didn’t use the term “freedom” and at the time I only expected to be using it for a couple weeks, maybe a couple months tops. It was another 6 months before I used a chair regularly on long outings and another year before I began using one fulltime.
At this point I have made many posts about my chair and the way people perceive someone when they are on wheels. There are all the common themes of pity and projected sadness. And of course those that really like to look at me as an “inspiration” for doing the mind boggling tasks of grocery shopping and holding down a job. I’ve had “friends” ghost me and I’m excluded from more social gatherings than I am invited to, sometimes intentionally with the best of intentions, sometimes due to lack of accessibility.
There’s been plenty of downs, but they have almost always been balanced out by ups. The friends I lost were replaced with new friends that I would not have met if I wasn’t in a chair. The career I left because the community was toxic and that toxicity was amplified by my disability was replaced with a new career that I absolutely love. My failing health turned into a journey to take back the mobility and strength I lost and has brought me to a point in my life where I can honestly say I am thriving.
People still view my chair as a limitation but it is anything but. Part of that is the simple fact that I can move with more ease and for a much longer now than I could for years leading up to being in a chair. But part of that is mindset. We all have challenges, whether we a re able-bodied or disabled. Our challenges shape us and, in many ways, define us. The great thing about mindset is that we get to choose which of those challenges to embrace.
Is existing in a world not designed for wheelchairs a challenge? Absolutely! But I choose to tackle it unapologetically and that makes me resilient.
Does my disability make achieving health and wellness more difficult? Absolutely! But I choose to seek out the knowledge and carve out my own path and that makes me adaptable.
Does societal misconceptions about disability make professional and academic respect harder to come by? It sure does! But I choose to take up space, show up for my community, and share my knowledge and that makes me passionate and impactful.
If you let it, your mindset defines your reality, not the other way around! A simple concept but not an easy one! So we keep on working at it, building our community, and paving the way to the future we want to live in!
If you want to chat about mindset, hit me up and we can grab coffee!!