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How do you define success?
I really love this recent column from a fellow SMA News Today columnist, Sherry Toh. In it, she writes about her journey to becoming a freelance writer and how she never went the formal education route. Sherry was too “sickly,” as she put it, but discovered a knack for writing through her love for reading. She adapted to her circumstances and still came out on top. I especially love how she mentioned she chooses to focus on her successes and not what she lacks. It got me thinking about how we all define success differently.
To me, success means feeling healthy and managing SMA so that I’m still able to do the things that I love. What does success mean to you?
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14 Replies
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Oh man great post. Yeah I think success, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder—it’s different for everyone. We have a lot of crap to deal with so we definitely don’t need to beat ourselves up over whatever it is we think we lack.
Regarding work, I think most people I know with SMA have an unconventional road to employment. I was without full-time employment until I was 30, and I criticized myself constantly about it before I got my first job. In hindsight, I wish I had gone easier on Past Blake—he was doing the best he could.
I think employment is important and employment for people with disabilities is an area I’ll always feel passionate about. But we shouldn’t think that you gotta be employed to be successful. There are a lot of ways to contribute to society that aren’t going to college, working a 9-5 for 50 years, and retiring to Florida. 🙂
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Hey Blake, great blog post! Thanks for sharing.
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Awesome Blake!
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Great points, and great blog! Curious about this highly customized on-screen keyboard you referred to in the blog though. Haha your link doesn’t work. Do share!
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Oh man, I wonder how long that link has been broken. ???? Thanks for letting me know! It’s a little bit dated but this is an article about my customized onscreen keyboard:
https://blakewatson.com/journal/writing-and-coding-with-the-macos-accessibility-keyboard/
I’ve added some new buttons to it since then, but much of it is still the same.
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I love this layout! Do you know if there is a way to customize the iPhone keyboard layout too?
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I haven’t kept up with mobile as I can’t really use my phone easily anymore. But I do know iPhone supports third-party keyboards now. Try searching the App Store.
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Holy cow this is awesome. Thank you so much for sharing. Micaela, I’m not sure. Hopefully, Blake can help you out!
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Blake, slightly off topic….but what part of Florida will you be retiring to? I live in “northwest” Florida. ????
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Robin, you are not too far away from me then. I’m in Mississippi.
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One thing I’ve learned is when you have a disability thinking outside the box becomes second nature. With that we can also define success outside the “normal” confines. At 42, success might be married with kids and a career. For me success is being a pet parent, not overdrawing my bank account while I await my meager paycheck and being a pee math prodigy. Tomorrow success might look different.
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Yes exactly this. I keep having to learn and relearn this. 🙂
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A pee math prodigy ???? oh man, DeAnn. That’s a good one. I consider that one of my successes too. I also agree with what you’re saying. Success is subjective.
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