Cope, Control, Concentrate

Image source: NOTSALMON.COM

My last post on the blog section of my website was back in December 2021 and I last updated my website in February with my review of NBC’s Ordinary Joe which I am still heartbroken and super super mad NBC decided to cancel! These past few months have been very very very frustrating - typing hurts, my hips hurt, my back hurts, just about everything hurts and is twisting. I really don’t know what the hell my body was doing in July. The world and the news have also gotten even crazier and I think everyone has been feeling more anxious. For me personally, with every new variant and talk of more mask mandates it’s hard not to sometimes feel if this is going to be our new normal like seriously what was all that speech therapy for and what will our healthcare and personal care assistant systems even look like - but these challenges might end up being their own posts haha! There have also been some good things happening in my life since February: I was in my best friend Melanie’s wedding in June, I went back to Holy Family University for a really great book discussion of Sara Pyszka’s memoir Inside My Outside, the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation published my article about being a respectful communication partner in their newsletter, I have gotten back in my stander, I have been loving floating around in my hot tub, I went down to the beach to watch the 4th of July fireworks which was really nice and something I haven’t done the past couple years, and I recently did a super super cool 8 week workshop and made a video with other adults with cerebral palsy who all also see our rockstar PM&R doctor at Penn. And some other really awesome things have happened this week but waiting to share! I have included some pictures of these activities at the bottom of this post and congratulations again to Mel and Ben :) 

Cope, Control, Concentrate was featured on my previous blog in February 2017 and published in the 2018 edition of Holy Family University's literary magazine where it won Best Prose.
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Someone once told me: Control what you can, Cope with what you can’t and Concentrate on what counts.

So often we worry and stress about things that are out of our control which then causes unneeded stress, fear, and anxiety that can be crippling. However if you focus your energy on the things you can control and let go of the things you cannot control, you will feel better, be happier and possibly healthier.

I can’t change the fact that I have cerebral palsy.
I can’t make people say “Hi!” to me or include me.
I can’t make my pain go away.
I can’t change the fact that some of the people that I thought would be in my life for a very long time are no longer in it.

That is my reality. If I dwell on it for too long, I start to feel angry and powerless.

Guess what you are in control of?

Your attitude

Your effort

Your choices

Guess what 90% of success is derived from?

Your attitude

Your effort

Your choices

Life is always going to happen, but you get to choose how you react to it! Always!

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