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I Am Disabled

You don't know what mental anguish is until you have your health taken away from you. If you can walk, then consider yourself extremely lucky. Realize that you have so much. Don't waste it. To have the ability to go to the beach to smell the air, go for a hike in the mountains, have a drink with friends. I have none of this. Be greatful for what you have. I know everyone has their story. I have been there too, prior to my accident. But now I see that you must value every second and live life without any compromises. Break free! You honestly don't know the gift you have, to be physically able. I have not been able to walk for 2yrs...and there are a lot of people who are a lot worse off than me. I am working on recovery. Others don't have this ability at all.

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otto78 · 51-55, M

At 23 years of age I was casually hiking when I lost my footing on a steep eroded hillside. I tumbled downhill backward for a distance, causing a vertebral compression fracture. The bone shattered and damaged my spinal cord at the 5th thoracic level, completely paralyzing me. I'm now 50 and managing somewhat healthily. I relate very much to what you've shared here and elsewhere. For a time anger and bitterness overtook me, and I became self-destructive and abusive to others. I'm still living with the consequences of my choices made during that time.

Some of the loss--the disabling of certain physical functions--plagues me still today. Yeah, there are others who are a lot worse off than me and you, but each person's pain is his or her own to deal with. It has been said that life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you choose to respond to it. Today I've chosen to be less dysfunctional than a few days ago, but not as functional as I have proven I can be. Reading your story has helped me tweak my perspective. Thanks for sharing.

Now, in January 2019, how are you doing? Please update me (and SW) on your condition and state of mind.