“You have the power to choose your mindset. Let yourself choose you. It’s ok to want better.“
Being born with a disability is tough. I have two choices: to dwell or be resilient and never give up. Throughout my life, I’ve experienced pain, self-doubt, low-self esteem and depression. I was born with brittle bone disease (so I break very easily) and I fell and broke my hip in March of 2019.
I went to the ER and was told that I only had bruises since the X-rays came back clear. One week later I saw my orthopedic surgeon for a follow-up. She looked at my X-rays and didn’t see any fractures but decided to do further testing via a CT scan. After the testing was completed I was told that I needed surgery immediately. I was shocked and in disbelief as my surgeon explained that my hardware had come out of place and I needed what would become two surgeries in 24 hours.
Throughout this ordeal, I had to withdraw from school. I was scared that I would not be able to graduate with my cohort but I had so much support from my counsellor and in May of 2020, I graduated. I was doing very well until about one-year post-op when I discovered I needed surgery, yet again. One of my screws had come loose and needed to be fixed. I was angry, disappointed and still processing my last trauma, but I said to myself, “Okay Karen, you’ve done this many times since birth, you can do it!”
Recovery is a process – we don’t develop courage by just putting on a smile every day, we develop courage by surviving every obstacle. You have the power to choose your mindset. Let yourself choose you. It’s ok to want better.
Are you ready to share your story of RESILIENCE? You can do that HERE.