Good Training and Drive and the Super Blind Guy
By Jeffrey Thompson
@JThompson6835
I am not dependent upon anyone for my existence. I do have friends and family that assist me in particular activities when needed. Like, reading the label on the aquarium to let me know what kind of fish is the red one. Actually, the sales person could do that but never the less I find ways to carry on without a dependency upon others to make my world function. Am I a super blind guy? Not in my mind.
I attended two different Blind training centers, attended college, worked as an instructor of wood working at a NFB training center for over 5 years and have been doing my own thing in wood working ever since. I somehow have created my own opportunities and take my ideas from a thought bubble and through experimentation and trial and error, I have created a line of wooden pieces that I sell and donate to causes. Am I a super blind guy? No. I am probably the same guy that I once was when sighted yet now I am legally blind. Does this make me vulnerable or less of a man? No. It just makes me different like all the other unique people I have met and meet all the time.
Sure, I can give you a thousand excuses that sometimes pop into my mind when I am challenged. I try not to go there and I move forward. I forge through the obstacles that want to push me into a pity party parade. And I do have to admit that it would be so easy to join that parade marching in my mind at times of weakness…but I don’t. I sometimes slow down a bit, putz around a bit but with the constant reminder of my Dad, my step-dad and others in my life that have influenced me I take a step, maybe a little one, maybe two, but it is the presence of their existence in my mind that keeps my drive alive. Sure I have my own drive but remember, I am not a super blind guy, I am just me and doing things differently with some people from my life reminding me that quitting is not an option.
I over think a lot of things while my feet want to move quickly thus anxiety builds towards frustration and the feeling of failure when suddenly a thought or a few words come from the past telling me a little something and my road block dissolves like it was just a figment of my own imagination. I can be my biggest obstacle if I don’t watch my focus. Being specific and attending to detail works a lot better than trying to lasso an entire thought bubble in one motion. Does super blind guy exist? In some minds it does. It is a creation that is manifested out of ignorance. With some good blindness training and a good drive, your ideas have a great chance of reaching fruition and that super blind guy super hero ideology will soon be brought under control with the realization that what makes one super is all in the ability to break it down from a thought bubble to a reality that is not imagined but lived in. Imagine breaking down the barriers that keep you from reaching your fullest potential. Imagine bringing your dreams down from the sky and harnessing them into a reality. Did I do that? I am not sure but I wasn’t a wood worker when sighted…I was a printer. Imagine that.