Being at the conference again was so good that I just couldn't write about what I saw/thought/felt in one post, I have to do it in parts.
So this time, is the turn of how I felt and what I thought about something that has made a huge difference in my life. INDEPENDENT LIVING.
While I was walking around and listening to the people talk about their lives and how they wished that could to this or that, I thought why are they not trying, And I'm not talking about trying it once and then decide that you can't, I'm talking try until you found a way - and yes, there is always a way- Believe me, when you are put in a situation where you have no one to help and you HAVE to do it, you will. Two personal examples that I can give you are, Until I was around 11 years old I couldn't button my own trousers (pants). I always had someone helping and my friends used to make fun of me all the time, they called me lazy and things like that, used to get frustrated and always thought they didn't understand, but how wrong I was, they where always right, I was just being lazy, coz when I went to spend the summer to another town and I was staying with family friends and I didn't feel confortable to ask for their help all the time so, I spent a morning figuring out how to do my buttons and since that morning I do it myself. The other one was socks, I had- as many people do- an adaptive system to put my socks on. One day I was again in another city all by my self and my thingy broke, well that city is normally -5c, so I had to put them on or I wasn't going to eat that day (as I had to go out to get food). It took me from 8 am till 6 pm to figure out how to put my socks on, but guess what? I DID IT!
It has worked for me every time, with creativity and determination I got it done.
So, I have to be honest and I hope you don't mind me saying this, but If saying it is going to help you in some way then I will, even I hurt peoples feelings a little bit, it really frustrated me when I saw all this parents "helping" their kids do things I KNEW they could do by their selfs. For example, while having the all American cookout, I was seating  with a lovely family and we where chatting about life and all of the sudden the AMCer said: Can you help me with my drink? and the dad put the glass in his mouth and he drunk away, I had to ask why he didn't do it by himself?, His answer was: Because I can't do it myself, I said : TRY! Do it now. the family was a little in shock when he actually did! He grabbed the glass and drunk. He turned away and said to me I didn't even know I could do it!
AMCer if you do it yourself, to begin with you are going to feel slow and silly, but after practice you will get better and faster, and you will master any task you want. So please, do this for you! It's going to change your life. You will realise the more you do the more you will want to do, and this will lead to your independence. And please remember that to be successful you need to fail a couple of times, so keep going no matter what.
Parents think of stepping a side as a present for your kid, if he/she has time, make them figure it out. They will thank you later.
I'm 29 years old, I left home when I was 18 to live by myself, and I have lived in the USA, England, Spain. I travelled alone or with friends not having to worry about how I do this or that, I work really hard to be independent and now I'm having the bets of times because of that.
xx
Misha
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