Refocused Lives
Believing Beyond Boundaries
Refocused Lives are Like Open Roads, How Will You Navigate Yours
If you have ever lived in a major metropolis like Los Angeles, California then you have had to navigate your way on the very crowded highways and freeways on a daily basis. Having once lived and worked there, I can personally tell you that a major factor in planning my day centered around traffic. It became second nature to know when to leave from point “a” to get to point “b” and just when I thought I had it all figured out, up jumped a traffic accident and ruined all my plans. I remember many mornings leaving extra early for work at 5:00 a.m. thinking that I would breeze into Pasadena from Santa Monica only to find that everyone else had the same intention and there I sat in traffic yet again. This was the norm and I learned to adjust and live with it.
So imagine to my surprise that one day I merged onto the 405-North and there was practically no one else on the road. I saw “open road” and that just never, never never happens. I giggled to myself thinking that only I and the few other cars on the road were the only ones that didn’t get raptured up! My sins were being punished and I was being left behind but really this open road felt nothing like punishment. I was thrilled and decided that I was going to take full advantage of this and began to put the pedal to the metal of my new Infiniti G-35. I was going well over the speed limit, sipping my coffee, eating my bagel and singing along to the songs on KJLH Radio. I never even saw the red flashing lights of Highway Patrol until he was directly behind me hitting his siren! Sometimes I look back on that morning and I think about the fact that life can be quite like an open road. Will we know what to do with it when we happen across one.
The traffic jam I describe above represents all the “busy-ness” of my life leading up to and including my spinal cord injury. The diagnosis of Transverse Myelitis was my ultimate unanticipated traffic accident and my road to recovery is my open road. Now, what I choose to do with this open road will determine every aspect of my life for the rest of my life.
The spinal cord injury drastically changed my life but it certainly didn’t end my life. It forced me to refocus on how I was going to navigate through the rest of my life (physically, mentally and emotionally). I am so amazingly blessed and loved to be able to share my stories with you and I am grateful every single day of my life to now understand that the value of my life did not diminish simply because I use wheels to navigate instead of my legs. I may not beat you in a foot race but I dare you to try to keep up with me!
RefocusedLives.org is where I hope you will come to be inspired by people who are living their lives to the fullest in spite of whatever curve ball has come their way. Thank you for visiting and I hope you will share this site with someone and/or leave a comment.
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