The Adventures of the Blind/Low Vision/Visually Impaired (BLOVI) Girl- Volume 14
This week I am in the midst of preparing for two talks, so the blog will be short and will focus on some insights I have had during that preparation time.
I have decided since I am working on letting go of anger, that I will have no WTF of the week and have two “I can’t get enough of” topics. The first thing I can’t get enough of is my new prop car. Once I turned my car back in the driveway was left empty and my family was overly concerned that the house would look empty because there would be long periods where there was no car, especially every night. Of course, this would lead to possible attempted break-ins that could not be thwarted by my alarm system or my guard cat, Bruini. So, I decided to call the head of the Cooperative Ministry because I knew they had a car donation program to see if they had any cars that were too far gone to recondition to be drivable. And boy did they come through. David and Tricia found me a gold Dodge Intrepid whose engine was blown and had it towed into my driveway. Now, it looks like someone is at home all the time or manages to park the car in exactly the same way every day. My daughter keeps telling people that there is a car there but it is not a real cart because it has no engine. It serves its purpose and I thank The Cooperative Ministry for finding it and for the person who donated it.
My second “I can’t get enough of” is my new professional photos (check out my profile pictures on Facebook). I decided to take a second round of photos after people who had not seen me kept asking me if I had been disfigured. I realized people had an image of what someone who had had a traumatic eye accident must look like, so I did it to dispel those thoughts. I also can’t really see myself when I look in a mirror because of the missing head thing. But, I can see pictures of myself, so I was curious to know if my friends that had been telling me I looked the same had been telling me the truth. The answer was that I look just like me (well, actually a hotter version of me). And all those months of steroids sure made some things grow! I think they turned out fabulous and thanks to Ashley Ward of Ashley Ward Photography for lighting me so well (it is all about lighting after 40) and taking such gorgeous pictures. She will be putting more photos from the shoot on her blog at ashleywardphotography.com.
My blog this week will be short as I am preparing for this weekend’s free women’s event that those of you in Columbia and the surrounding areas should be attending—run don’t walk for three great talks, food, and gift bags for the first 75women filled with goodies and coupons from local vendors. I have been thinking about what I am going to say. The title is Renew You: Reinventing Yourself through Life’s Changes, so, as a seasoned change artist, I have no problem about using myself and what I have learned as an example. I have been thinking about how much I should reveal, how brutally honest I will be, worried I could shed a tear or some awful thing like that (I have no problem crying in private or with close friends, but the public ugly Oprah cry is not my thing). As I was writing my handout for my talk, I added a few things to the list of what I have learned since my accident and I will share those here.
One thing is that I am in control of nothing and that you can NEVER predict what will happen to you in your life. You are just in control of how you deal with what life brings you. Trying to control things or people is like pushing a heavy rock uphill. So, the trick is letting go and rolling with the changes—body surfing with the waves instead of letting them crash against you. Life is going to kick your but in some way or the other, you just have to get back up again and find a way through it or over it to move forward.
The second thing I added was that it is important to be good to yourself and take the time to be balanced. When going through a major change or traumatic event, it is easy for your life to become all about that change. I constantly have to remind myself that I need to take time for myself to do things like get a massage or have alone time or just be a couch potato and watch a good movie. And I have learned that I have to take the time to notice and be aware of what is going on around me. This means staying out of my head and being relaxed enough to notice all the good things that are happening.
Coming next week, my report on my social experiment involving going out with my long hair and some type of homage to the Bravo Housewives outfit.
Keep moving forward,
Beth (BLOVI) Medlock
This week I am in the midst of preparing for two talks, so the blog will be short and will focus on some insights I have had during that preparation time.
I have decided since I am working on letting go of anger, that I will have no WTF of the week and have two “I can’t get enough of” topics. The first thing I can’t get enough of is my new prop car. Once I turned my car back in the driveway was left empty and my family was overly concerned that the house would look empty because there would be long periods where there was no car, especially every night. Of course, this would lead to possible attempted break-ins that could not be thwarted by my alarm system or my guard cat, Bruini. So, I decided to call the head of the Cooperative Ministry because I knew they had a car donation program to see if they had any cars that were too far gone to recondition to be drivable. And boy did they come through. David and Tricia found me a gold Dodge Intrepid whose engine was blown and had it towed into my driveway. Now, it looks like someone is at home all the time or manages to park the car in exactly the same way every day. My daughter keeps telling people that there is a car there but it is not a real cart because it has no engine. It serves its purpose and I thank The Cooperative Ministry for finding it and for the person who donated it.
My second “I can’t get enough of” is my new professional photos (check out my profile pictures on Facebook). I decided to take a second round of photos after people who had not seen me kept asking me if I had been disfigured. I realized people had an image of what someone who had had a traumatic eye accident must look like, so I did it to dispel those thoughts. I also can’t really see myself when I look in a mirror because of the missing head thing. But, I can see pictures of myself, so I was curious to know if my friends that had been telling me I looked the same had been telling me the truth. The answer was that I look just like me (well, actually a hotter version of me). And all those months of steroids sure made some things grow! I think they turned out fabulous and thanks to Ashley Ward of Ashley Ward Photography for lighting me so well (it is all about lighting after 40) and taking such gorgeous pictures. She will be putting more photos from the shoot on her blog at ashleywardphotography.com.
My blog this week will be short as I am preparing for this weekend’s free women’s event that those of you in Columbia and the surrounding areas should be attending—run don’t walk for three great talks, food, and gift bags for the first 75women filled with goodies and coupons from local vendors. I have been thinking about what I am going to say. The title is Renew You: Reinventing Yourself through Life’s Changes, so, as a seasoned change artist, I have no problem about using myself and what I have learned as an example. I have been thinking about how much I should reveal, how brutally honest I will be, worried I could shed a tear or some awful thing like that (I have no problem crying in private or with close friends, but the public ugly Oprah cry is not my thing). As I was writing my handout for my talk, I added a few things to the list of what I have learned since my accident and I will share those here.
One thing is that I am in control of nothing and that you can NEVER predict what will happen to you in your life. You are just in control of how you deal with what life brings you. Trying to control things or people is like pushing a heavy rock uphill. So, the trick is letting go and rolling with the changes—body surfing with the waves instead of letting them crash against you. Life is going to kick your but in some way or the other, you just have to get back up again and find a way through it or over it to move forward.
The second thing I added was that it is important to be good to yourself and take the time to be balanced. When going through a major change or traumatic event, it is easy for your life to become all about that change. I constantly have to remind myself that I need to take time for myself to do things like get a massage or have alone time or just be a couch potato and watch a good movie. And I have learned that I have to take the time to notice and be aware of what is going on around me. This means staying out of my head and being relaxed enough to notice all the good things that are happening.
Coming next week, my report on my social experiment involving going out with my long hair and some type of homage to the Bravo Housewives outfit.
Keep moving forward,
Beth (BLOVI) Medlock
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