“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
-Martin Luther King
I love this quote by Martin Luther King and I have found to be so absolutely true in my life.
After a spinal cord injury or another initiating factor that leads to paralysis you have entered a moment of challenge and controversy.
This is when it will be determined what kind of a man or woman you are.
It will determine what is in your heart.
In my last post I discussed my injury and the importance of focusing on finding your purpose after paralysis. If you haven’t already read that post I highly recommend you do so before reading this one.
It’s important to understand that your purpose will become clearer as you begin to move in that direction. But once you begin to identify your purpose the next step is to determine what you can do physically to accomplish your purpose through your work for others or yourself.
This post is not for someone who wants to just collect disability and never work again in their life. But if you are in that mindset I want you to challenge you to seriously consider whether or not that’s the best thing for you physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
We were made to work.
When you work you take personal responsibility for your life and your family if you have one. This is an extremely powerful step towards thriving with paralysis.
So I want to encourage you that regardless of your circumstances you can work in 99.9% of cases.
Here’s just one example.
Jon Morrow is unable to move anything but his face and yet he has built a multimillion dollar Internet empire and is thoroughly enjoying his life. And this is just one example. If you need more inspiration go to our inspiration page and read the stories there of people who are doing incredible things with very little physical function.
Also I want to encourage you if you’re not already to begin reading/listening to books.
Books have been an absolute game changer in my life.
“You are what you are and where you are because of what has gone into your mind. You can change what you are and where you are by changing what goes into your mind.”
-Zig Ziglar
Over the past 20 years I’ve read hundreds if not thousands of books primarily focused on personal development, spiritual development, business, marketing, biographies, etc. (all nonfiction books). I may have read a few fiction books over all that time but nonfiction books written by others who have accomplished great things can be absolutely phenomenal for you to work towards thriving with paralysis.
I want to recommend a few books to start with. Both of these books will help you to clarify your purpose and begin to see the kind of work and the contribution you can make to the world. If you are able to read paperback books or Kindle you can get them on those formats or you can get an audiobook version of each of these books through Audible. This is how I consume so many books is by listening to them whenever I’m driving or doing other things. I also read books on my Kindle because I can’t turn the pages on a paperback book.
So let’s get into the recommendations. The first is called Start with Why by Simon Sinek.
You can grab it by clicking the image below:
This book will help you to start getting and understanding of what is most important to you and how you can use your passion to create something great. Whether you want to start your own business (which I would highly recommend) or work for someone else this book will help.
The second book that you must get is Will It Fly by Pat Flynn.
You can grab it by clicking the image below:
In this book, Pat Flynn gives you a step-by-step plan that will walk you through how to identify your passions AND actually research your idea to see if it would be a great next step for you. It’s a fantastic book that I highly recommend (it even has a free companion course with it).
In addition to these two books another tremendous resource that has been crucial to my success is Dragon NaturallySpeaking “I am using it right now in fact :-)”. It allows you to speak into a microphone and it will type for you. It’s essential if you have limited hand function like me. I only have one hand that works a little in order to use the mouse occasionally but the Dragon software has made all the difference.
You can get it here:
These two books and purchasing this software for your computer will cost you less than $100 and can make a tremendous difference at starting to find hope for your future.
If you like this type of content please click here to receive notifications whenever I post a new article to help you thrive with paralysis.
It’s time to thrive NOT just survive!
Also, I want to encourage you to check out our Free E-Books by clicking the images below:
