Everybody Knows:

Someone sent me this & I thought I would share it.

Everybody Knows:
You can't be all things to all people.
You can't do all things at once.
You can't do all things equally well.
You can't do all things better than everyone else.
Your humanity is showing just like everyone else's.

So:
You have to find out who you are, and be that.
You have to decide what comes first, and do that.
You have to discover your strengths, and use them.
You have to learn not to compete with others,
Because no one else is in the contest of *being you*.

Then:
You will have learned to accept your own uniqueness.
You will have learned to set priorities and make decisions.
You will have learned to live with your limitations.
You will have learned to give yourself the respect that is due.
And you'll be a most vital mortal.

Dare To Believe:
That you are a wonderful, unique person.
That you are a once-in-all-history event.
That it's more than a right, it's your duty, to be who you are.
That life is not a problem to solve, but a gift to cherish.
And you'll be able to stay one up on what used to get you down.

Sorry for my lack of attention to my blog. I opted to take a long holiday. I'm back and looking forward to a GREAT year. This week I'm being a bit lazy and feel somewhat guilty, yet it's a guilty pleasure. There are two reasons. Monday I had a generic Doctor's appointment discovering that I've lost four pounds during the holidays. What a surprise. I was fully expecting to have gained weight. The second reason is that my "trainer-coach" at CrossFit is on vacation. I had planned to continue my workouts this week without Bret and work with the fill-in trainer. However the news that I'd lost weight gave me a reason I could skip my workouts this week. I'm having an internal war about this but I WILL be at CrossFit Monday ready and committed to an excellent workout.

Back Pain

How many of us have back pain? Having CP is sort of a recipe for back pain since the body compensates. My back is getting stronger and are holding the spine in place much better since I've been "CrossFitting? for a year.
However... I got up this morning planning on going to CrossFit. My mid-back was hurting but I thought I'd do some stretching and go to the chiropractor after my workout. As I ate breakfast the pain continued to get worse. After deciding it wouldn't be smart to go to CrossFit, I chilled out for a few minutes. As I stood up it felt as if someone stabbed me. I walked to the back and realized driving probably wasn't a smart idea so asked Jim to drive me .

Currently I'm on a heating pad. Amazing to me how much pain one little rib can cause. Dr said the pain would gradually ease. So my hopes are that by tonight the spasms around where the stabbing was will stop.

Today's post is from a friend with CP. When I read her post it touched me, so she gave me permission to share it on my blog.

I am a confident person, but there's something about not living up to people's expectations of you whether you expect them are not. It feels weird being one of only two disabled people in Demi Lovato sound check and asking a question feeling like everyone is looking at you… Judging you. They expect you not say anything just because you're in a wheelchair, let alone say more than three words. There are stereotypes of disabled people, I probably break all of them, but I still feel like I am sometimes overlooked.So I do everything I can to get noticed because I know I will be the last to be noticed.

This young woman is the sweetest thing. She struggles to keep her life as normal and active as possible. She like myself does not feel sorry for herself. She wants to be accepted as a "normal" person who happens to be in a wheelchair.

Don't we all have disabilities? Ours are just visible which makes many people uncomfortable.

TheFlyLady's technique and was a success.. I did each task for 10-15 minutes each not fretting that it took me more than 10 minutes tocomplete a task. It's normal for me to take longer doings things than someone without CP. I worked for roughly 2 hours using 4 of those 15 minutes for resting between tasks so my true work time was 1 hour. Here's a list of how it laid out:

1) Got items and areas ready (tools together & moved rugs & emptied kitchen trash)
2) Swept all tile floors ... entry way, kitchen, 2 bathrooms
3) Rested
4) Steam moped entry way and kitchen (2 issues here...ran out of time & too tires to steam mop bathrooms. That will have to be a separate task)
5) Rested
6) Spot cleaned kitchen rug
7) Rested (6&7 were actually done together, I sat & spot cleaned & rested while the spot remover was working) this took roughly 30 minutes.
8) Cleaned kitchen counter tops, backsplash, appliance surfaces
9) Rested
10)Put rugs back in place, cleaning supplies back.

While I was exhausted and my back was hurting I was encouraged with my accomplishment. I did strain a muscle in my back while mopping. However I believe that can be managed by my learning how to stand and control the mop without twisting.
I must stress that my back is much stronger now thanks to CrossFit. Today was my CrossFit (workout) day so while there I rolled on a styrofoam roller which help my back immensely.

Cleaning

It's always been hard for me to clean. Even in my younger years I would do a little and lay down then do a little more. This was due to back pain. Most of us with CP (if not all) have scoliosis which is curvature of the spine.
Even though I'm able to work out three times a week, I still can't do house work. My entire body hurts instead of just my back. This dumps the responsibility on my husband who is a saint. Well thanks to a friend I've been introduced to TheFlyLady. I am so excited. This woman has inspired me to give housekeeping another shot. TheFlyLady says to do a chore for 10 minutes (use a timer) then move to another chore, even if your not finished. You do this for 70 minutes. I dedided I can do this even if a few of those 10 minutes are used for resting and I do this for 90 minutes. Tomorrow I will let you know how it goes. Thanks Audrey for linking me to this fantastic website.

Long Lost Friend

A few days ago I received a facebook friend request from a childhood friend. Not a girl from my hometown. This girl lived in my cousin's town. Whenever we went to visit my grandparents and cousins she and I always played together. This is the main reason I LOVE facebook... reconnecting!

Anyway this friend works with my cousin's daughter. When she made the connection she asked my 2nd cousin about me. My 2nd cousin was asking about our childhood friendship and what all we did. The most profound question was concerning my ability to keep up , assumming our play would have been "slowed down" due to my abilities. My friend's response was " Marty had no problem keeping up, I did not see her disability."

As I thought about this and my 2nd cousins questions and intrigue I realized that my cousin's daughter really doesn't remember me when I was totally mobile. Seven years ago when I was in MS helping plan the funeral for my aunt I sprained my right ankle & the Dr wouldn't let me put any weight on it. Since I can't use crutches I ended up in a wheelchair. From that point on I've had mobility issues because I sprained that ankle again when it was almost healed. Within months of my ankle finally healing I had a wreck that broke my "good" foot. It took one and a half years after breaking my foot to become mobile with a cane. I've been fighting and struggling to gain the best mobility I can and it's constantly improving.


I'm sharing this because I know at this point in my life my disability is extremely obvious. Yes, this bothers me...I let my pride get in the way. This is something I work on daily. My point is everyone has a disability of some kind. If we ourselves don't see them ...then others won't.