CP 4 Life

Hi, Chris here.

Something I noticed, and it happens on a daily basis to me. Do you get looked at? Wait I’ll explain what I mean, do people look at leg or your arm as you’re walking down the street or in the shopping centre? Are you ever annoyed by it?

It’s been happening to me since I had my accident, which was 22 years ago. I have come to terms with it and I know that it is just human nature and curiosity, but sometimes it really does get to me. Usually it’s just a glance, and when they look back up at me and see that I’ve noticed they get really embarrassed.

But this one man was looking at my walk (limp) from about 100 metres away. He was fixated on it. Then he looked straight at me, we locked eyes and he looked at me with a condescending expression on his face. It doesn’t usually, but this time it just got to me. To the point where I was going to react and say something rude like “Take a picture it’ll last longer”. But I stopped, took a deep breath and kept walking.  

I thought long and hard that night. Why does that experience make me feel small or inadequate?  Then I thought who cares what he thinks! Everyone has issues and inadequacies that they are not 100% pleased about. By reacting I would be no better than that bloke.

 I’m confident and secure in who I am and where I am going in this world. He is one man. There are 10,584,820 men in the Australia. You can only change yourself, you can’t change others no matter how much you’d like to.

I’ve made more changes in my life during the past year than I ever had in my life; my diet, my training routine, my work habits and my financial situation. I feel great because I’m doing something for myself, and I’ve discovered it’s not hard, it’s really not. Don’t let people change your mind; go with your gut, do it. Change something in your life which you don’t think is working for you. It’s exhilarating.

Love to hear about your experiences and responses, let me know.