Tag: overcoming challenges

Writing with a Disability (Different Ability)

Overwhelmed or Overcomer

Recently, I was screened to take part in a brain injury survivor case study. During the brief interview, the memories of those early days after my accident came crashing down on me reminding me of the pain I’ve worked so hard to put behind me.

It was difficult for me to remember all of the negative emotions and situations I endured during that life-changing season. I have struggled with many of the same issues over the last 27 years.

Depression
Loneliness
Shock
Fear

To my surprise, due to my remarkable recovery, I did not qualify to take part in the case study survey. My accomplishments over the last 27 years exceeded the study’s parameters.

I’m not referring to any spectacular feats of strength, but typical everyday chores and tasks individuals must perform to take care of themselves—activities I couldn’t do in the weeks following my accident.

In the end I remembered how far I’ve come since those difficult days when I was overwhelmed by my TBI and felt like giving up.

Overwhelmed

Webster’s dictionary defines overwhelmed as, “Upset, overthrow; to cover completely. Overcome by superior forces or numbers or to overpower in thought or feeling.”

Certainly, we have all experienced the feeling of being overwhelmed at some point in our lives. However, for persons with disabilities, these feelings or situations can be exceedingly debilitating.

Because our bodies and emotions are literally out of our control; those first few weeks after my accident were so difficult for me, that I became suicidal. It was humiliating to need help to do common tasks like feeding myself or using the restroom.

After I finished therapy I began trying to write again and found myself hitting another brick wall. Due to my brain injury, I lost all fine-tuned motor skills in my left hand. Although I am right-handed, I am still unable to type at a productive are feasible level.

As an English major with writing aspirations, this presented another obstacle for me to navigate. After a few days of struggling to type, I learned about speech dictation software that I could purchase to write.

Twenty-six years later I still use the same software to write everything, including the posts you read here in this column. It’s humorous to say, but I am more of a speaker than a writer!

Writers Life

I have been pursuing traditional publication for the last decade. Now once again I have started feeling overwhelmed as I continue to navigate the hurdles of a writer’s life.

As aspiring writers, we’ve all had to start on the same playing field with nothing but a good story or prose that we want to share with the world. As Jerry B Jenkins asks, “What’s your story?”

As communicators, we know ideas are only as good as we can communicate them to others. Learning how to communicate more effectively is a big part of being a writer. That is why we must continually study and learn the craft.

Then we can masterfully create our fictional or nonfictional narratives. A fantastic idea can lose its persuasion or entertainment value if it is not communicated effectively.

Let me go ahead and confess now, I also understand just how overwhelming the writing life can be. Seeking an agent and maintaining an author’s newsletter can be overwhelming and time-consuming, but wait there’s more. There are countless aspects of the journey we each must learn and master in route to publication.

Curating ideas
Research
Writing
Editing
Rewriting
Building a platform
Managing social media
Book Promotion
Book tours
Speaking engagements

Each one of these functions can be overwhelming in and of themselves. This is why writers need mentors and cheerleaders to nudge them along in the grind of the writing life.

Have you ever felt like giving up? You’re not alone if the writer’s life has overwhelmed you. I cannot count how many times I’ve wanted to step away from my computer and never write another word.

Each time, I have leaned into the writing community and reached out to others for help and advice. At the beginning of last year, I resolved to give up my writing passion.

And just as I was ready to quit, I became a finalist in a Christian writing competition, that third-place win reminded me of what it means to be an overcomer. Just because the chips are down doesn’t mean we have to cash in. Just because we fell overwhelmed, doesn’t mean we can’t become overcomers.

Overcomer

Overcomers are defined as persons who overcome something; one who succeeds in dealing with or gaining control over some problem or difficulty. March 31 will mark the 27^th anniversary of my accident which almost overcame me both physically and mentally.

However, I am not the same person I was before. I have worked hard to overcome countless obstacles to live life this long. I have allowed these obstacles to make me stronger, just as fire refines and strengthens precious metals.

There have been times in my life when I’ve come close to giving up, that’s when I remind myself to get up instead. I have learned there is beauty in the trial. We can be overwhelmed by hardships or overcome them and let them work good in our lives.

Humble us
Guide us
Strengthen us

Hardships can allow writers to grow as people and as professional writers. The cliché is true, “Where there is a will, there is a way.” As writers, we must find our way to becoming overcomers.

Sometimes it’s the struggles of publication that give writers their voice and story. Just like it’s the struggle of breaking free from a cocoon that gives butterflies stronger wings to fly higher.

The struggles of life may be overwhelming like a cocoon, however like a butterfly in the spring, we can become overcomers!

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at MartinThomasJohnson.com and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.

Tags overcoming challenges, Writing with a disability, Writing with a Disability (Different Ability)

Fear Factor

As I write this month’s post, I am waiting to hear back from agents and publishers to whom I sent book proposals. While I am playing the waiting game, I cannot help but notice how my writer friends post about how busy they are.

”A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
Thomas Mann

It seems there are three seasons in a writer’s life: writing, waiting, and all hands on deck busy. While waiting, we can write, build our platform, and follow up on proposals sent out. To be honest, I’ve procrastinated on writing and sending my follow-ups. In a way I felt safe not knowing, I didn’t want to have to face my writing fears.

Fear of rejection
Fear of being too overbearing and unprofessional
Fear of waiting

Living with a brain injury, I already have enough things I need to focus on daily. I pay close attention to my health for changes in my mental and physical health. Depression isn’t the only side effect of brain injuries.

Survivors also deal with an inability to focus or OCD tendencies, and physical limitations. We also have irrational and uncontrollable emotions that can come from nowhere. To be transparent, I have to work on these things daily.

In addition to not being able to control my thoughts and emotions, my biggest fear is having a seizure and losing control of my body. Fortunately, I have learned what can trigger seizures for me and can avoid them to lower my seizure threshold. It has been over a decade since I had my last seizure, but the fear is still very real today as it was then. Fear can help us or hinder us.

Fear Factor

Fear is a common reality everyone must deal with at some point in life. But instead of avoiding fear, we can learn from it. Fear is an emotional or mental response to anything that may harm us.

Fear begins in the amygdala; this small organ in the center of your brain goes to work warning your nervous system.

“This leads to bodily changes that prepare us to be more efficient in dangerous situations: The brain becomes hyper-alert, pupils dilate, the bronchi dilate and breathing accelerates. Heart rate and blood pressure rise. Blood flow and stream of glucose to the skeletal muscles increase. Organs not vital in survival such as the gastrointestinal system slow down.”
Arash Javanbakht and Linda Saab, Smithsonian Magazine

So fear is our mind and body’s attempt to protect us, don’t be ashamed of having fears. We each have different triggers and must learn from them.

In school I had a friend who had a seizure while she was in the shower; I remember listening to her about how scared she was. She learned that she’d developed type I diabetes which caused her seizure. She learned about managing her diabetes and hasn’t had any more seizures.

When we learn about what scares us, our fear can prepare us to take precautions to keep us safe. Life can be scary for us all at times regardless of being disabled or not. Writers also have fears since the writing life isn’t an easy career path. Below are some of the most common fears writers have:

Fear of rejection
Fear of not being good enough
Fear of criticism
Fear of Success
Fear of inadequacy

What we can control is how we are going to deal with our fears. I could let my fear of seizures scare me to the point where I remain stationary and never drive or do anything productive.

Instead, I chose to learn more about brain injuries and seizures and then make the necessary changes in my life. I chose to be proactive, instead of reactive, to deal with my fears.

Deal with It

Fear can be dealt with in one of two ways, by avoiding it or attacking it. At the beginning of the pandemic, the popular cliché was, “Faith over fear,” the whole concept was confusing for me, why is faith necessary, if we don’t have any fears? Instead of dealing with fear many used faith as a means to avoid it. The absence of fear isn’t faith, it’s denial!

I learned from my neuropsychologist that it is better to deal with my fears than to deny them. Again, fear begins in the brain and it can raise our stress levels, neither of which is good for a person with a brain injury.

Instead, I learned to study and pay attention to the things that scare me, in the process making them less frightening, and learned how to appreciate the small victories. I can use my faith to help me handle and live with my fears, but not avoid them. That is not beneficial for me. Writers too can learn how to deal with the fears of the writing life. Below are a few tips from The Write Practice on how writers can overcome their fears of writing.

Do what scares you
Stop procrastinating
Learn from criticism
Embrace the fear of writing

I highly encourage you to go to The Write Practice and read the full list to help you deal with your writing fears. Remember it is healthy to have fears, as long as we learn how to deal with them productively.

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
Ernest Hemmingway

I have learned to deal with many fears by living with a disability for over 25 years. Every writer will have to face their unique fears at some point. I want to close by encouraging you to leave a comment for this post about some of your writing fears and how you have overcome them in your life. Hopefully, this will help others deal with their fear factors!

Tags faith over fear, fear, overcoming challenges, Overcoming doubt, Overcoming fear, Writing with a disability, Writing with a Disability (Different Ability)

Writing with a Disability (Different Ability)

Setbacks

As I write this month’s post from my home office, the world around me is shut down as caution to the coronavirus. The writing conference season has come to a screeching halt before it ever got started. Because most conferences have either been postponed or canceled.

As social-distancing has become the norm, I have had more time to think about a lot of things. I know a lot of writers, both established and aspiring are disappointed by lost opportunities to pursue their passions or missed chances to reunite with other writing friends.

But, I can’t help but shake the memories and feelings I had over two decades ago when my life literally came to a screeching halt. It seemed like everything had been taken away from me: dreams, finances, relationships and even some physical abilities.

You could say, my life was over with as I knew it. But, it wasn’t over—it was just a turning point in my life that would put me on a new course. I’ve shared how difficult it can be to live with a brain injury.

But since, this month is brain injury awareness month I want to share with you some insights I have learned from navigating the hurdles life has thrown at me. Because as the world is learning now, you don’t have to have a disability to experience the trials in life.

Below are a few truths about life we can bet on.

Everyone struggles at times in life.
Just because you get knocked down in life, doesn’t mean it’s over with.
Slow down and learn to listen when life pauses.

Setbacks in life prepare us for what may lie ahead on our journey. By now we all know that writing isn’t an easy career. There are hurdles to jump. How we handle the setbacks will determine how our careers go.

Setbacks?

I googled the definition for setback and found a couple of interesting definitions: “1) A checking of progress 2) A space between buildings. 3) Automatic scheduled adjustment to a lower temperature setting of a thermostat.”

It’s interesting because these characteristics of setbacks apply to all facets of life, especially the writing life. Setbacks help us gauge the progress of our writing, they give us space and time to think, and they help us make adjustments to our writing.

Setbacks should help us focus, not make us fearful. I think our country and world have been humbled by the coronavirus. Hopefully we can learn from this setback.

About eight months after I had my accident, I suffered my first seizure and was scared to death. It took me two days after going to the emergency room to regain the movement in my left arm. For two days I cried because I thought all the progress I’d made over the previous eight months was lost. I was sure I would never walk again or be able to use my left arm. It wasn’t until eight years later when I had my second seizure that I began to connect the dots.

My seizures were triggered by becoming dehydrated. Once I made the correct adjustments to my life to avoid those situations, I have become seizure-free for over a decade, without any medication or doctor visits. Setbacks can teach us something if we pay attention.

I recently reached out to one of my writing mentors for some advice about navigating the hurdles of a writing career. She agreed that there are many. She was the one who first who noticed and helped me hone my writing voice. The following list is a compilation of hurdles that I have experienced along with some from my closest writing friends.

Finding your “writing” voice.
Finding your target market.
Building your platform.
Finding an editor that fits.
Landing representation for your writing projects.
Securing a publishing contract.
Book marketing.

These are only a few hurdles I’ve heard about within the writing community. There will always be unplanned hiccups in the writing life, in life and definitely living with a disability.

These are times when patience and persistence are vital to a writer. After I had that first seizure I wanted to just give up completely, but then I learned to use it as a tool on my road to recovery. Write on!

Hang On?

Whether I’m at a writer’s conference or listening to online teleseminar, I always hear the same thing.

Don’t give up.
Keep learning.
Listen.
It’s okay to ask for help/advice.

Although I had therapists twenty years ago, there was no one I could turn to who could explain to me what my life would be like after losing 30% of my brain.

Now I have the opportunity to encourage other brain injury/stroke survivors about what to expect. I am also fortunate enough to have established writers in my life to help me navigate the writing hurdles.

As the world pauses to deal with the coronavirus, it is a great time to ask for help, listen and continue to learn our craft. That is the best way to make the most out of this setback.

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.

Tags hurdles, learning from setbacks, overcoming challenges, Overcoming doubt, setbacks

Writing with a Disability (Different Ability)

You-nique

The last five years I’ve used songs in my blog to help illustrate the theme of my posts; it has become part of my brand and helps to make my post unique. My passion for music goes way back to high school and continued into college, where I used it as an escape from reality like most people do.

But recently the website I’ve used to create my audio files shut down and I found myself scrambling to find another website to fill this need. After the first few days of frivolously searching, I hit a brick wall and I threw myself a big pity party—because writing it isn’t exactly easy.

If you’ve been pursuing a writing career for any amount of time, I’m sure you’ve hit a few brick walls, or at least a few potholes, along the way. Obstacles you didn’t anticipate, such as not knowing what to write or how to say in the best way.

The act of getting ideas is the easy part, but the process of building a platform, acquiring representation and getting our stories and messages out is the gut-wrenching, throw-your-hands-up-and-walk-away devil.

It’s like running the hurdles in the Olympics, you build momentum, but you have to learn the perfect time to jump again and again. Personally, I think it would be easier to run the hurdles than to write for a living.

However, twenty-two years ago I learned a valuable lesson when I stayed in a T.L.C (transitional living center) after my accident. These are places where persons with disabilities can stay while they remember or relearn the daily tasks of life (i.e. cooking, cleaning, and personal care.)

The residents have different disabilities, but similar limitations and each one has to learn how to make do with what they have in their own way. Over the years I’ve learned to be more adaptive because of my disability. I’ve accepted that my limitations make me who I am and my journey is unique to me.

You-nique!

Webster’s defines unique as, “Being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else.” As a community of writers, we have similar goals, but unique stories, skills, and paths that make each of us who we are.

Albeit if you’ve ever attended a writer’s conference you know some are little more unique than others (haha!) Fortunately, the writing tribe is more accepting than most. We are each creative and express ourselves differently.

There’s a saying amongst the brain injury community that I keep going back to in life. “We all have brain injuries, but every brain injury is different.” My brain injury affects me differently than another person’s injury and I must live with a different set of facts of life.

How I cope and deal with my disability are part of my story and who I am.
My limitations caused me to adapt to life in a way that works for me.
My disability is not yours or anyone else’s.
My physical scars are part of what makes me Martin.
My road to recovery in life and my path are different from other’s recovery and paths.

These aspects of being disabled easily apply to the life of a writer. Each of our journeys to writing success looks different. Our lives are different, but our goals are the same. However:

We don’t all have the same level of education or training.
Writing isn’t as natural for some as it is others.
Not everyone has the resources or time needed to attend conferences.
Not everyone has the resources needed to get the tools of the trade (i.e. writing programs, quality computers or even an office space.)
Not everyone is good at networking or using different means of communications (i.e. social media, newsletters, website, speaking engagements).

To be honest, not everyone has the patience or thick skull to be a writer. For many, the process is too time-consuming, and discouraging, so they decided to take a different path altogether and give up on their publishing dreams

Different?

But for those who choose to continue on the journey, they learn that all writers really are different, their career goals look different, and their definitions of success are different.

If there’s anything I’ve learned in life by being disabled, it is that it is okay to be different. It’s okay to not:

Look like others.
Believe like everyone else.
Enjoy what others enjoy.
Take the same path as others.
Talk like others.

Because we each have our own voices and messages to share—messages only we can tell. We each must learn to use whatever we have and do whatever it takes to tell the stories that make us unique.

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.

Tags adaptability, calling, overcoming challenges, unigue