The photo above and all below are courtesy of pexels

They say as you get older you get wiser…

I have been on this earth for 41 years and I would like to think that I have.

I know I am not the same as I was 20 years ago and I know without a doubt I am not the same as I was 25 years ago.

Back then I was trying very, very hard to be accepted by the workforce. I have learning disabilities and struggled with being hired on a job, because of them.

Related Post: I AM NOT STUPID!

I had become so fed up over the years with being rejected and discriminated against because of my learning difficulties. Over time, it affected my attitude.

I heard the words “I was not worth” so many times until soon I just shut down and basically reverted back to having periods of acting immaturely.

It lasted for years.

People my age range were working a 9-5, living out on their own and dealing with your basic real world stuff. But, Me???

I was still living at home, not working. I was mostly in my room, only coming out for meals or for the television programs my family and I watched together.

The only time I would get out of the house was when I’d go volunteer at local senior citizen centers.

I would write often but mostly I just automatically deleted whatever I wrote because I didn’t think any of my work was worthy of being seen.

To say I was a mess would be an understatement…

My parents had to be wondering what they were doing wrong… but of course, it wasn’t them. I honestly couldn’t have asked for better parents.

In a nutshell, I basically just gave up.

I believed all the lies and myths that were said about me.

It wasn’t until I turned 34 that I realized my habitual routine had gotten pretty old!

My maternal grandmother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and died around Thanksgiving 2011.

Right after the funeral, I began doing some serious soul searching.

I spent the next couple of years reading numerous self-help books and returned to my faith.

One morning shortly after I had turned 40, I woke up as if I were a totally different person.

It’s hard to really explain but I felt as if all the emotions I had been dealing with were gone. My mind felt so clear and I felt so at peace!

It felt as if God healed me.

That’s the way I choose to look at it anyway.

I have come to realize in time that we need to take our lives one day at a time because that is all we are given.

We are not the ones in control.

We are not the ones to decide how our lives go.

Yes, it really did hurt to experience all that I had gone through but I have turned a completely new leaf.

I no longer live a “woe is me” type of life.

I feel like I am making up for lost time.

I have been self-employed in the dog care field for 12 years and I am happy to say that my writing career is finally taking off.

I know that what has been given me is a rarity and I don’t want to mess it up.

I want to just simply enjoy this second chance that I have been blessed with.

Amy is a resident of Florida. Since 2006, she has been self-employed in the dog care field. In May 2017, she self-published a memoir titled “I Am Not Stupid” which is available through Amazon. She writes for s eethegoodinfo, an inspirational website and the Learning Disabilities Association’s newsletter LD Source.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on this blog – please email me (Roshonda =) at justsuminspiration@gmail.com for submission guidelines.

The photo above courtesy of bing – all other pictures below courtesy of pexels

Please help me welcome Amy Temple!. Amy reached out to me about a week ago inquiring about doing guest posting, and after a couple of exchanges – I said YES! I’m so glad I did; she’s phenomenal and I encourage you to listen and be inspired by her story as well as her journey. So let’s give a warm welcome to Amy and please show your love and support by leaving her a comment below!

SOCIETY HATES ME!

I mean it can’t stand to even look at me! It sees me coming and it does all it can do to hide from me.

I don’t know why. I haven’t done anything to it.

I want us to be friends. I want us to hang out but it turns its nose up at me.

I tried to make it understand that this is how I was made but no dice.

You see, I learn differently. There are some things that I can pick up instantly and there are things that take me just a little bit longer to pick up.

After I was diagnosed, professionals told my parents that I would never amount to much. I would never be able to live independently…and on and on, it went.

My first experience of society flipping me “the bird”.

After high school graduation, I spent the next couple of years making numerous phone calls and going on endless job interviews… but all to no avail. I am blessed to have very supportive and encouraging parents who never treated me differently because of my learning difficulties. I have always been open about having them… to me, they are what they are.

However, my “condition” prevented me from finding a job… fast food restaurants and the like would not even hire me! I even signed up with a temp agency but nothing. All I got was a couple of internships with the promise of possible permanent employment… which never materialized.

It was not like I was lacking in any kind of skill. I have two secretarial certifications from a vocational training center. That should be good enough but just say the words;

“I have learning difficulties”

And you can almost hear the buzzer from Wheel of Fortune when a wrong letter is picked. Then…came an opportunity that was thought to be – dare I say – the Holy Grail!

I had applied for a medical secretarial position at the medical center of the retirement community I was volunteering for. I received notification that I was one of three final candidates. We were to each do a paid two-week internship. I felt SO confident that this was it! I had the most experience. I was the only one who had an actual certification in medical secretarial work.

But…

Another strikeout! I went to talk to the hiring manager afterward and discovered that the two medical secretaries I had been working under lied about my performance so that their friend would be hired (she was one of the final candidates).

I was furious! What got me was that the one other candidate was a single mother who really needed the money! I remember thinking, “What kind of lies did they say about her!?”

I had enough after that! I got sick and tired of all the BS I kept getting for having learning difficulties as I had done something wrong!

I have been self-employed in the dog care field for 12 years. My specialties are walking, feeding and playing.

I am also pursuing a writing career. My focus is inspirational and humor.

A couple of years ago, I decided to write a memoir about what life really is like with learning difficulties, entitled:

I am not stupid — *Amy’s first book available now on Amazon – Click Book for Purchase!*

It’s a quote I must have said hundreds of times when I was being rejected and discriminated against.

And it’s true… I’m not.

I have an above average IQ.

I have a life to live and I simply don’t have time to be worried about what others think of me.

I KNOW what they think!

They want me gone.

Out of here!

But…

I’m not going anywhere…

Society may just as well get used to it.

If you would like to know more about Amy and hear so much more of her powerful story, please click the link above (her book title) and show her some support by purchasing her book. I purchased mine! – Let’s support one another!!