Monday 6 February 2012

Today is a good day!

An odd title given I'm in quite a lot of pain today due to very painful new wisdom teeth, but today is definitely a good day.

I say that because sometimes it's little things that make you appreciate what you have. This morning I stopped and realised something. Something that I don't think I've actually ever thought about before. When I went to look for painkillers, trying to decide which one would be the most effective, I just took my medication as normal. I realised I wasn't worrying about my Epilepsy medication, worrying about if it was working, worrying about if I was noticing any side effects, nothing, I just took them and was done.

It was rather nice for my daily routine with regard to my Epilepsy to be so completely, totally, boring.

Although I did have a wonderful weekend that was the complete opposite of boring and I suppose it's nice just to look back and enjoy it when everything gets back to the routine of a new week - quite the opposite of a certain song performed by Bob Geldof and Co - "I don't like Mondays"!

On Saturday I was playing hockey as normal, although it wasn't quite a normal game with cake a plenty, balloons and a 3-0 win, we definitely deserved, but maybe didn't expect to be quite as brilliant as it was. Well, it was our captain Frosty's birthday, so we had to get a great result for her I guess, although anyone who knows her will know, this mental case of a last ditch, superman-esque, spectacular diving, slide tackling defender, definitely played her part! So it was rather good timing that in the evening our club had it's slightly belated New Years party which conveniently doubled as a birthday party.

On Sunday, despite nearly breaking well... something in the snow trying to get to Wembley Arena, I had my London 2012 Gamesmaker Orientation, met Iddie Izzard, who was lovely and just as nice in the flesh as he comes across on TV and also met the amazing people who would be my fellow volunteers for the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer. After the high of the day before and despite some rather wooden, over-engineered messages of inspiration, I really did appreciate how amazing sport can be and how truly awesome it will be to have the Games in the UK, for probably the only time in my lifetime.

What put the icing on the cake (previously attempted to be eaten on the Saturday as the chef had slightly over cooked it), was on Friday evening, when I learned I would be a Trustee board member of the amazing London disabled sport charity, Interactive.

It's difficult to express how much the opportunity means to me, to be able to work within a fantastic structure of brilliant individuals and help make a difference. It's hard doing it alone, but when you have the support of a team of people who all have the same vision and drive, you really can make an impact.

What inspires me most about the charity, is that it doesn't just look at the issues faced by people who want to play sport that are wheelchair users for example, but equality for people with disability across the board, disabilities that may be hidden.
In many ways as a disabled person who is by definition able-bodied, you feel an affinity to both abled and disabled sport, it's a kind of limbo in the middle, so it's difficult to feel completely part of one community or the other. Charities like Interactive work to address that feeling of limbo and help facilitate a community where everyone is equal - a sports field.

There are serious challenges faced by people who are wheelchair users such as the obvious access issues which are common. But people with mental health disabilities, or neurological conditions like Epilepsy have their own unique challenges too, that aren't always obvious at first look. The fact that Interactive covers all these areas takes guts - to work to tackle the challenges that all these different disabilities present isn't easy.

But it's worth it.

When you see the results and people gaining the rewards from sport and physical activity, it inspires you to want to do more. I just hope that my newly acquired 'wisdom' helps me to work successfully as part of this outstanding team of people.

So actually today is really a rather good day indeed. I have absolutely no idea what on earth the Boomtown Rats were ever on about.

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