A life without limits

Limitations live only in our own minds, but if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become endless....
When I was 19 I spent an entire summer working with children who had special educational needs and various other disabilities. I spent hours and hours telling those children that they could do whatever they set their minds to, regardless of their disability. I had the pleasure and honor of seeing those children take part in activities and events they never thought they could do! They forgot about the limitations imposed on them by their disability and instead they focused on the end result. They focused on their dream, on their goal and they did it!!! Sometimes the activities had to be adapted to suit their needs, but adaption does not mean you can't do it.. it just means you do it differently.
I often wondered what some of those children thought when I was telling them they could do anything they wanted. I wonder if they thought it was an easy thing for me to say, after all I did not live with a disability. I am sure many of them had that thought and to be honest I don't blame them. I would have thought the same thing had I been them. My lack of disability however, did not change my beliefs that the only limitations we have in life are the ones we impose on ourselves.
The opportunity to test this theory out came three years ago when I received my epilepsy diagnosis. It was time to prove that I was not all fur coat and no knickers but that I meant every word I had ever told those children.
Something I have realized over the past three years is that sometimes it is not you putting the limitations on yourself but other people imposing them on you instead. Once people know that you have a problem they are very quick to point out all of the things you can't do. They begin to risk assess you and analise  your life, deciding for you what you should and should not do!! I don't even think people do it to be unkind. I think they do it partly to be helpful and partly because it is just like second nature to them, like the overweight child at the buffet who can't resist filling their plate with snack sized sausage rolls and chocolate cake they can't resist imparting their wisdom and making decisions about your life for you.
Suddenly you find yourself stuck with more limitations than you had ever previously imagined and feeling pretty rubbish and not exactly positive towards life.
The truth is that when we are faced with challenges and limitations we have two choices... either to accept them or to challenge them. I personally LOVE a challenge!!!!! After my diagnosis and even up until a few months ago I and others placed so many limitations on my life it was stifling!! Limitations on my job, my hobbies, my social life , every aspect of my life was somehow being limited by epilepsy. Then I realized (with the help of some very special people) that the only limitations I had were the ones I was imposing on myself!!!
I may have epilepsy but epilepsy does not have me. I am blessed to have people in my life who encourage me to chase after my dreams and take risks. I have family, friends and Andy (don't know how I did that!)  who love me regardless of my epilepsy and who see me as the same person I was before. I have a business and a job that I love and I have more ugg boots than Australia!!!!!
I choose to live my life without limitations. I believe in myself and my own abilities.
We are confined only by the walls we build for ourselves .... so knock them down!!!!!
Smile, be happy, you are exactly where you are supposed to be.