Take charge of your life or not, your choice

Take charge of your life or not, your choice


Take charge of your life or not, your choice

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to do the closing keynote address to a group of visually impaired students and their parents at an event hosted by the Connecticut Board of Education and Services for the Blind. What excited me most about this was how many were in attendance and how eager they all were to learn more on how to live life to the fullest. Throughout my talk I reminded them that how they live their life is up to them; not their parents, teachers, or the agency for the blind.

The majority of the students were of high school age. That’s a difficult time for anyone, and having a vision impairment doesn’t make it any easier.

The topic of my talk was to take charge of your life. The first step in making that happen is to take responsibility and I mean 100% responsibility. It is not always easy to do, but a must if you want to live a life free of blame, resentment, and rationalizing your decisions. I reminded the students to look in the mirror and that is the only person to blame if they are not happy with their life. We are the only people who can change ourselves and how we perceive who we are.

For years I blamed my parents, my teachers, and my (insert any name here). I would walk around and say, “Well I had to do this” or “I have to live like this, because I am legally blind” - that is a bunch of crap. This mindset only builds the victim mentality and people then fall into the entitlement mindset.

Nice try, my life is not easier because I have been legally blind since age thirteen. I did not receive an easy pass because I have extra struggles. No, I get the same opportunity to make life what I choose on a daily basis and today I choose to believe in myself and operate out of an “I can” attitude.

If you have a plan, a vision of success and work towards that, then you are on your way to living the life of your dreams.

This works for anyone and the biggest problem I see is that most people are not operating out of their vision; they are letting life live them. I remember those days!!!!!! Blind or not we all have vision.