"I Am. . .So Much More Than You See!"

When was the last time you felt really uncomfortable in your own skin? For me, it was just this week when I decided to quickly stop for dinner on the way home from work. I stopped at "Chick-Fil-A" and honestly wanted to get in and out as fast as possible because I was hungry, tired and had a Lyft driver waiting for me. Instead, when I walked in I was greeted by two kids hard core staring at me and especially my braces. I could feel their eyes on me as I walked into the restaurant, waited in line and proceeded to order my food. It didn't help that my speech was giving me a difficult time while I was ordering. When I was paying, a quarter fell out of my wallet. I didn't see it fall but one of the little girls picked it up and handed it to me. I said to her, "thank you so much, you really helped me." I wanted her to know that she helped me and that everybody needs help sometimes.  I know these kids were not trying to make me feel uncomfortable by look...

When someone tells me I can't do something, it empowers me to prove them wrong. I was lucky enough to have teachers who empowered me in school to reach for the stars and accomplish all of my goals. However, there was one teacher who told me that she didn't think I would be successful in college because of the pace I complete my work. While this was very upsetting to me at first, it inspired me to go to college and prove this teacher wrong. When you tell someone they can't do something, all you are doing is ruining their confidence. One time I asked a speech therapist if I would ever be able to pace my speech without tapping my finger and she said probably not. This really bothered me because one day I would like to talk at a "normal" pace without thinking about it. I asked the same question to the speech therapist I am currently working with and she said the opposite answer. This showed me that the other speech therapist really did not know the answer to the q...