Someone in this life is waiting to be led by you. Someone is waiting to be loved by you. They are waiting to experience your light, and the only thing you have to do is be willing to show it.

Like the warning lights on our car dashboards, our bodies remind us that we need to stop and take a moment. Many of us push past the time the indicator light turns on and as a result experience exhaustion, resentment, or burnout. Instead of listening to our bodies, we find ourselves spiraling down into the same unhealthy habits that take us further away from living a balanced life.

So many people want immediate gratification. So many want results now. Life doesn’t work that way. You won’t receive the promise in your life without going through the process first. You can’t open a successful restaurant if you don’t know how to season your food. 

Growing up, my mom would purchase books like The Hardy Books and Nancy Drew, hoping that I would enjoy the twists and turns of the mysteries that had to be solved within those pages. Unfortunately, they had the opposite effect, and took me further and further away from wanting to open the cover of any book. The collection of books piled up, and collected dust over the years, and though she had wanted me to become a reader, I never witnessed her or anyone else in my family sit down and read a book themselves, so why should I?

When was the last time you looked in the mirror and said, “I love you.” If you’ve never done it, then start today. Take yourself on a date, get up, clean your apartment, go on a walk, work out, and plan a staycation with yourself. Work on you. Do beautiful things that make you happy so that you can then share that happiness with others.

How often has it been expressed that, “Looks don’t matter,” and how often has this statement been true? Is it truly possible to live beyond the physical and see people for who they are and not solely on what they look like?

People living with disabilities can be targets of downward comparison to non-disabled individuals because of societal barriers and expectations. Deviating from these expectations can lead to shame, ridicule, guilt, anxiety, and depression.

My experiences as a person living with a disability through congenital amputation have revealed that there are people who choose apathy over empathy, and that scares me.