It is amazing what one person can do in your life. Sometimes it just takes one person to change your life, change your perspective on life, on yourself; whether it’s your family, friend, partner, whoever it is, hold on to them. Life can be great. You just have to find it. Find what makes you happy, what makes you laugh, what makes you feel loved and stick with it. I promise you won’t regret it. Happiness is a great and interesting thing and you don’t know how special it is until you don’t have it. When all other things aren’t going your way, but you have that one (or multiple) thing(s) that I talked about before, everything is second to your happiness. Yes, other things play a role in your happiness, but take a second and take out of your life that thing I spoke about… Think about what life would be life without it, think about how much worse life could be then how it is in that moment. By doing that, you will know how big of a role happiness or that source of happiness is in your life. So stick with that thing and don’t let all the other stuff get you down. Life will work out. Remember, there are only “downs” in life if there are “ups”. Just work hard and believe that your “up” is coming. I know it will.
Having a Cleft lip and palate has exposed me to more life experiences than I would’ve had otherwise. In good and bad ways! Yes, experiencing all of those surgeries and all that came with them, coupled with all the bullying, wasn’t very fun, but if those were the worst things, I feel like I am pretty lucky. Having a Cleft lip and palate has definitely made me not take as many things for granted as I might’ve otherwise. It has opened my eyes to so many things including lessons learned from surgeries, as well as my time in hospitals, and the doctors all have taught me compassion and empathy for others. It has given me a good perspective on life and made me grateful for my health and implanted within me a drive to pass along these lessons to others to help them along the way.