With life and it’s absolutely crazy turns, it’s been hard to find the time to update with all of the things occurring in life.
Our daughter, Lyla Drew Ogg is now 4 months old. She is quite possibly the happiest and most loving little girl ever. We are blessed to have her in our family and with her addition, Peyton has become the big sister that she was meant to be. Her compassion, love and empathy is simply overwhelming and as she continues to show us more of who she will become, the more we fall in love with her soul and spirit.
While my vision is of course a challenge, the past 4 months have been a whirlwind. From our growing family to taking over our family business, i’ve been busy. Really busy.
Through these trials, my vision has had to take a back seat. In both focus and strides, my visual disability is and has not been the priority. While it’s been nice to not “deal” with the challenges that occur, that doesn’t mean they aren’t occurring. Arguably, I would venture to say that in the past year, since launching AstheLightDims.com, my vision has worsened.
The reality is that it will always worsen. How fast is dependent on the disease. How much I have to adapt is dependent on me. Over the past months, we have had several situations that proved to be challenging but with the right outlook, perspective and priority, I have been able to move forward without losing too much of me in the process.
As the time has passed, we have done a lot of things. We’ve ventured out of our home and done fun things. I’ve asked for help from family and friends and while it’s not fun, my fear of receiving help has become less. In fact, on a recent day trip to Sea World in San Diego, my wife’s parents joined us and while holding my Father in Law’s hand isn’t something I thought I would do, I did and it was awesome. He was helpful beyond words and to my surprise, I didn’t feel like a loser needing the help.
Moving forward from diagnosis has been a challenging task full of emotion, fear, skepticism, uncertainty, and sadness. it’s not been easy.
However, it is what it is. When we were told that I had RP and would go blind, I made the decision that day that this would be a part of me but not define me. Everyone has challenges, aliments and a reason to not go out and and get after it. It’s whether or not you choose to empower those reasons or not.
In a few short weeks, I will be traveling to Florida for work. I will be giving a seminar in front of hundreds of people and for the first time, i’ll be doing it with the use of my white cane. Compared to how I felt about this tool a year ago until now, well it’s astonishing as my view of the white cane has changed from a burden to just another tool.
The message you may ask?
Pick yourself up and get moving. Get moving to work forward. Get moving to adapt, adjust and assimilate your reality. Get moving to be a better person, a better you.