My Vision Board

I’m a very visual and goal-oriented person. I have high expectations and I’m an over thinker. I turned 30 years old recently and I feel calm yet driven.  I have a strong feeling that although I am content with my life right now, things are going to be changing…. in a big way and for the better. I have always had a very optimistic perspective and rarely do I let anything stand in my way, but there is a strong sense of motivation, inspiration and positivity has been coming in waves and I like it. The thing I love most about myself is that I am driven by change, new adventures, new opportunities, new relationships, I go where life leads me and I don’t turn back. I love that I am a thinker, a doer and a motivator. I don’t like to sit back and watch life happen to other people but yet a don’t push life to happen, either. 

Vision boards are my favorite way to get inspired.  A use the vision boards as a visual reminder of the last year and also what I hope to come in the future. Ever since I was five on my birthday I have made 10 wishes,  using marbles that I keep in a tin.  It's my version of hope but  it also gives me a sense of preparedness. I understand that the good also comes with bad and that every year is a roller coaster but the marbles symbolize the great things to look forward to and to strive for.

Here is the one I have created to capture the highlights of the last year and what I want in the future.

 

           

                  

The Dirty Girl!

The best part about Denver, in my opinion is the number of 5k runs there are. As an adult you can and are encouraged to dress up and have fun.  I will see people dressed up in gorilla costumes wearing tutus running together on the street while I’m driving around on a random Saturday morning and not bat an eyelash.  The spirit of fun and charity in this city makes me smile. Why not spend a Saturday reliving your childhood and doing it for a good cause? 

This weekend, wearing my best bright pink tutu, and my self decorated sparkle tank top I was off to a Mud Run called the Dirty Girl to help raise money for Breast and Ovarian Cancer.  A fun morning of running with inspiring women, getting down and dirty, going through mud slides, climbing up and down nets and crawling on my hands and knees through muddy, wet obstacles. It was fun to look around and see a sea of people wearing pink and supporting each other through these physical challenges. Mornings like these make me remember that humans are truly kind and loving.

This was my friends first 5k. She is not a runner but she was soo excited to try something new. I was proud of her for achieving her goal and having fun while doing it. What risk are you gonna take this week? How are you going to step out of your comfort zone?

So I can’t take credit for P.A.C.E. It is our camp motto, first brought to our attention by my camp counselor.  Ten summers at camp holds some of my favorite people, values and great memories. I like to take those memories out from my back pocket when things get tough. Its good to have positive memories that you can think of from time to time. What are yours? The most important thing that P.A.C.E. reminds me to do is to change my perspective, look at things from all angles, at least consider how someone else sees the situation. It’s an important lesson to learn. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason and P.A.C.E. helps me remember that there is a plan…. every bad thing, challenge or obstacle that we face has an important lesson to learn. Whether it be a break-up, a frustrating job situation, a health concern, a travel experience or a death in the family, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. I have learned that life only gives you that you can handle. Most people don’t know how strong they are until they wake up the next morning and breathe in fresh air. 

These places are the reason I feel alive, my peaceful places.  

I once found this list of things to consider on a daily basis. I look at it everyday and it helps to clear my head of all the static, maybe it will help you!

Spread love

Do what you love

Love what you do

Keep it simple

Laugh out loud

Go with the flow

Be Real

Focus on the positive 

Do your best

Just breathe

I usually go to the mountains to clear my head. Hiking is a physical goal that I can see and accomplish.  It centered me, focuses my intentions and helps me see what is truly important in life. Nature is beautiful. It is truly unbelievable that the earth has naturally formed mountains, water, wind and even the annoying bugs that crawl up your arm and buzz in your ear.

 It’s very important to remember you are loved and that life will get better. Time does heal. When times get tough, what makes your heart beat, what makes you feel alive? I saw this video on YouTube during Valentine’s Day but I watch it when I need to get some perspective. 

What makes your heart beat? Where do you go to get clarity?

Find your happy. Just remember if you can’t see it now, all your current life events are just a means of getting there, finding peace, finding happy.

Welcome! Pull up a chair, a couch or a bed, drink some tea, coffee, a beer or a glass of wine to take a moment to consider your day, find positivity in your day. P.A.C.E.- my daily motto, Positive Attitude Changes Everything. Not everything that happens to us is positive but it is our choice to find understanding and a positive perspective in the struggles, obstacles or fears.

The Negative- a stroke from birth (Cerebral Palsy on my right side), 7 seizures, 12 casts with no broken bones, multiple procedures, 13 different doctors, 3 hospitalizations, a learning disability, numbness in my limbs for 6 weeks, many doctors appointment and bullying.

The reason I state the negative first is that I always save the best for last. This blog is not a platform to compare my struggles to anyone else’s and it’s not a political statement. This is my story, my life. I know that there is more than physical disabilities that makes life hard. I fully understand that people have faced more or harder challenges than I have. I know I am extremely lucky, things could have been worse  No matter what we face day to day or if we weren't dealt the best hand of cards from the beginning, I want to use this blog as a happy place, a moment of calm, peaceful understanding in a world that finds it hard to slow down.

My Happy Place

My family, friends, playing sports, the Berkshires, camp, a college degree, reading, intellectual conversation, a half marathon, road trips, travel, laughter, living in England, South Africa and Greece, love and staying happy and healthy….

Nothing has ever stopped me from achieving my goals, I haven’t let it. I’m definitely the kind of person that if you tell me I can’t, I fight harder for it. Achieving my goals may not be pretty or the exact way anyone else would do it but I’ll get the job done.

People always ask me,  your disability must be hard, you must think about it a lot, it must have limited you. My response is always no it hasn’t, I’m proud of who I am and to tell you the truth, until some one points it out I don’t think about it. One of my best friends once told me “Katie, I don’t wake up and think I’m Asian, why do you think you should wake up and say hi I’m Katie and I have Cerebral Palsy every morning.”

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."