A little win everyday

So, my 'threat' of not blogging between Christmas and April time because of my final semester at University didn't last long as this is now my second post within this period! I am surprisingly and bizarrely organised - I am on the final chapter of my dissertation and I only have 1 assignment outstanding alongside this. Meanwhile, all the other students are running around like headless chickens in a panic about their mountains of work! It always makes me chuckle as I physically work at around a quarter of the speed of the other students, but yet again, I am streaks ahead running down the home straight whilst they have barely come around the first corner - sorry, I'm a RaceRunner and a sport student, I had to relate my work situation to the track!

March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness month, so I felt like I ought to blog to mark the 'occasion'. Just like every other year, the usual 'CP is the most common childhood disability ... blah, blah, blah' information is littering social media. Every time I go on social media, I'm currently reminded of how my disability affects me - just incase I forgot, obviously. I mean, I think such information is good and it needs to be out there because even though we're now in 2017, you still get the ignorant a***holes who thinks you've got the mental capacity of a rock and that you're probably going to not see next Christmas, but I'm pretty sure that no matter how much information we splatter social media with each and every March, these lovely human beings aren't going to take it in. So, I thought I'd do an 'awareness' blog from a slightly different angle.

I could sit here and type true and factual information about my Cerebral Palsy like 'my hands NEVER do what I need them to do ... my legs listen a bit more, but not a lot, they are by no means 'well-behaved' ... my right side of my body is more affected than my left, even though I am quadriplegic, so don't try and pass things to my right hand' - but, you probably know half of this anyway and those who don't aren't going to read it. So, it is rather pointless!

So, I am going to tell you what I like about having Cerebral Palsy. There's a long list of things I don't like and some bits I just want to tell to pee right off - wow, I've just noticed the similarities between my sister and Cerebral Palsy!

But, there are a tonne of things that I like, in fact probably love, about having Cerebral Palsy. I've blogged numerous times about the fact that I wouldn't be 'me' without it. I've also blogged about the incredible advantages such as being able to park right outside of places in the pouring rain, no queuing at Alton Towers (still don't understand why they think people like myself cannot queue, but hey, until they work it out for themselves, I'll keep that one low key!), and legitimately having the 'ultimate card' to play to get out of awkward and horrific situations! Don't get me wrong, I hardly ever get out the 'card' - I'm not that sort of girl! It goes against what I believe in most of the time. But, a handy 'last resort' option that not many have - what a perk!

Instead of producing another 'carbon copy' blog, I thought about blogging about a good thing that Cerebral Palsy brings to me on a daily basis, but probably not many people know of or notice - there you go, here's my bit of 'awareness spreading'.

So, everyday I nearly always have a 'little win'. Sometimes, I have a 'big win', which might be more visible to others depending on what they are. A 'little win' can seem so insignificant to an able-bodied person, or even to someone else who has Cerebral Palsy that affects them completely differently to me. So, what is a 'little win'? It can be, and has been, something as small as and as 'pathetic sounding' as getting toothpaste onto my toothbrush without showering the whole sink in paste. Yes, this is how sad I am - I promise I am totally and utterly 'normal'! I grin at myself in the bathroom mirror like some some sort of proud parent watching their 2-year-old toddler, just perhaps minus the nursery rhymes and Peppa Pig toothbrush.

Socks on in the first attempt? Little win. Step negotiated independently at University? Little win. Not dropped my phone at all today? Little win. Mascara successfully applied first time around? Little win. No mascara on my cream carpet? Even better little win.

Big wins come when I successfully do/complete something for the first time. I'm sorry to disappoint, but 'big wins' are just as pathetic as the 'little wins', but they're just new! So, what is my latest 'big win'? Don't hold your breath in suspense ... at the grand old age of 22, I made ...

A CHEESE TOASTIE! Yes, I succeeded at making myself a cheese dam toastie - no wonder Theresa May gave me the recent award, I know Theresa it was for my successful mission in making a cheese toastie. Hold Brexit talks, Ellie Simpson has made a cheese toastie!

Do I admit I used the softest cheese I could possibly get my hands on (soft goats cheese)? And the most blunt knife in the blunt knife 'selection'? Oh, and maybe a paper plate. And maybe I wrapped the paper plate around the cheese toastie as if it was some kind of take-away to successfully get it from the toaster on the kitchen counter to the kitchen table. Also, the dogs might have been watching extremely hopefully, convinced it was about to come their way. BUT! It doesn't matter, it was a 'big win'!

So, even though my life now looks like it consists of sad little events, I suppose the message I am trying to get across is that these 'little wins', or even 'big wins', make me smile everyday. It is a very much 'hidden' side of having Cerebral Palsy - no one sees it, or probably even notices it, but for me it happens everyday. I hope this has made you aware of something new and different about Cerebral Palsy if you haven't got it. If you have got Cerebral Palsy, here's to your 'little win' yesterday, today and tomorrow!