Everyone has weaknesses; personally I have so many I lost count years ago. Oddly enough most of the things that I have the most trouble with seams like the things I do best. I think the best way to show what I mean is by sharing those things; for the most part it’s anything that requires thought. When I was younger I was the one with the lowest grades, the one that didn’t speak or socialize with anyone, I couldn’t read or write even a little, I never spoke even when asked questions causes I really couldn’t. Doctors thought I would be that way for the rest of my life some even said I was hopeless.
So how does a person like that become a person like me reading close to 250 words per minute and type about sixty? Time and work, work that never really ends if I want to stay who I am. I’ll give an example of my daily life no one sees, first my speech though no one notices I still have a speech disorder, to hide it I have to think every sentence threw before it is said, I also need at least two ways to say everything and two words with the same meaning for every word I will say, so I don’t mess up and say something that makes no sense. I count every word making sure to pause after every four words, keeping my voice as monotone as possible, making sure that no words slipped out. Then there is listening to others, I only understand maybe one in every five words spoke to me , so to understand everything I echo everything spoken to me one or two times depending on how fast the person is speaking, I look at the lips and hands, allowing me to know what was said. I look at the reactions of the people around me to get the tone of what was said. Reading is a bit easier I only have to echo everything I read a few times in my mind while I try to keep my eyes focused in front of me.
Everything I do requires thought and forces, everything from walking to get dress on my own. Though almost nine years of doing this day and night have made most of it second nature, though there are times when I can’t speak or walk or do some other thing that most people take for granted because of the side effect that comes from putting so much stress on my brain every day. Which brings me to my thought of the day “Your weakness is what you make it.” meaning noting is truly a weakness unless you allow it to be one. Just take control of it and make it work for you not the other way around.
