How To Deal With Crap

Bonjour!

After two silly posts I figured I should do a serious one. I was asked a very difficult question yesterday by someone who's child has special needs. "How do you deal with being physically unable to do what you want to do?" I am fairly good at staying optimistic regardless of what is going on, but this has to be the hardest situation for me. My general outlook of "misfortune is temporary and everything will be alright in the end" really doesn't apply to something that is not temporary and will remain craptacular forever.

One of the hardest things about being a cripple is facing the reality that sometimes being a cripple holds you back. My disabilities have prevented me from going to various places, experiencing many "normal" moments, and have made aspects of my life very challenging. I'll admit there have been times when seeing pictures of people I know doing a variety of "normal" activities have made me cry. I try my best not to do that, simply because sitting and crying over someone's facebook picture accomplishes nothing. So here's what I do to deal with the crap.

1) Face the fact that life is not fair- The sooner you get over the "why me's" the better. There is no good reason for aspects of your life to suck, it just does. In some how, some way life sucks for everyone.

2) Accept the fact that the feeling of being held back will happen- Accepting it makes the feeling less harsh.

3) Make jokes about your situation- As one of my professors said "If ya don't laugh about it, you'll cry".

4) Find a proper outlet for your frustrations- I draw and paint to help me cope with the frustrations, soooo much better for you than crying over facebook photos.

A painting I made when I was 17, sums up some of my negative feelings.

5) Find people in similarly craptacular situations- You get the feeling you're not alone, support, and the ability to bitch about the situation to someone who knows what you are talking about.

I know it's hard, but we cannot let the occasional disappointment get the better of us. Don't let the negative aspects of your life outweigh the positives. I know we can do it.

Crippie's Tippie- Be thankful for anything and everything you can do, chances are there is someone out there who wishes they could do what you do.