And they're things I must do everyday. No one realizes how much I have to compensate. How much harder it is for me to shake your hand with my left hand. No one even gives it a thought because they can't imagine having to alter their lives just to experience daily functions. I've spent my whole life figuring out how to adjust and how to hide it. I hate answering the questions. It's hard and it's repetitive and sometimes painful to see people's responses to the answers.
It's a completely different idea when you have an injury that affects your simple daily life than having one that you can work around and only really affects you every once in a while in specific activities. I deal with this every day. Every day I am reminded that I'm not normal, that I'm different, that a lot of stuff will always be harder for me. Sometimes it's things I don't even notice anymore, like putting my hair in a ponytail. Other times, like when I reach to hand my classmate a pencil, it makes me cringe because it means someone else notices and I have to answer the dreaded questions and avoid the confused looks.
I really try not to have a negative outlook on all of this but sometimes it feels inevitable. Other times I'm really proud of myself for figuring out a special way to do something new or when I stop and realize how different I've been doing something than my friends are (like putting my hair up) but still getting the same results. That's the feeling I love. Because most everyday activities are possible for us, it just might take a few tries and some extra practice with a strange strategy. Don't ever think of a different way as any worse because it just means you worked that much harder, making the result that much sweeter :)
P.S. Please contact me on the side of my blog if you have any questions about specific daily activities or anything else! I'd love to hear from you all!
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