Someone Like Me

It is a start of a new year. Most of us have resolutions that we try to keep. As for myself, I have been reflecting on the past year. What I am going to try to improve in 2013? What should I build on and is important to me? Some of the best advice I was ever given was to reevaluate things every year or couple years.

As I get older, I am slowly figuring out what is important in my life. I have met so many incredible people in the past two years that have influenced my life. Most of us have to take a lot into consideration when we make decisions in our lives. My advice; be selfish. Do something that will benefit your life. Most of us have been through so much, so do something that will make you happy. It could be a trip of some sort to get away and escape reality for a little while. For others, it could be a complete change or something little. Change at times is frightening, because people are afraid of the unknown. As from my own personal experience, change has brought everything in my life….believe me…keep on changing until you find what is right for your life because no one else will. Change will not come easy for many of us. We will fall many times (metaphorically, and literally for some of us) before we take a step forward. Know what it is going to take to make 2013 a better year and go for it; you be surprised at what could happen.

One of the most inspirational videos that I have ever watched was the 2005 Stanford University commencement speech by Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple). I recommended this speech to all of my friends, and I am now recommending this speech to all of you. This speech really hits home. I hope that this year brings good fortune to all of us. Keep up the battle.

Mike

Hi everyone. My name is Mike, and hopefully everyone will enjoy my blog on this wonderful website.  As for my background, I am 29 years old, and I have been living with MS for almost 6 years–my six year anniversary is coming up in October.  My life has been filled with many ups and downs in these interesting six years. I have been fortunate to meet a lot of amazing people on this interesting journey.

MS has affected my life in so many ways; some positive and some negative.  I cannot change what has happened to me, but I have learned to embrace the changes and challenges. However, the one thing that I have never changed is the belief in myself.  When I first got sick, I was barely able to move; numbness flowed down the right side of my face all the way to my fingertips and to the bottom of my feet.  This was absolutely devastating because at the time I was a NCAA division 1 athlete.  My lifestyle, my sport, everything that I knew was all of the sudden taken away from me.  However, this wasn’t the first time I have had to overcome a hurdle in my life. I wanted to prove everyone wrong that I would come back and play the sport I loved at such a high level. Through hard work and determination (there was a lot of screaming, falling down, and swearing –though not necessarily in that order), I was able to come back to play a sport that I loved with some of my best friends. I took on the attitude that “ it was me vs the disease”, and I was not losing.

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