“With determination, it is possible to block out the negative things and enjoy the positive ones, despite the cons. Most importantly, it is possible to dance through everything pernicious.”

“The stares were annoying, but I knew they didnt mean any harm. So, every morning, smiling at them became part of my routine, too.”

“I had learned quickly that life doesn't always go the way I want it to, and that's okay. I still plod on.”

“The video was still playing, although I didn't know why. It seemed as if the able-bodied dancers were mocking me.”

“The thought of being able to [move my arms] made me want to give up my legs [instead] since I was accustomed to using them. But, I figured that after a few hours of sitting in a wheelchair...I woul...”

“This was the first piece to the whole storythe beginning.”

“Mental illness People assume you arent sick unless they see the sickness on your skin like scars forming a map of all the ways youre hurting. My heart is a prison of Have you tried?s Have you tried...”

“The question is not how to get cured, but how to live.”

“Chronic illness is hard. Pain is hard. Isolation is hard. The financial cost is hard. Grieving is hard and necessary and sometimes takes far longer than we every imagined.”

“Nobody can see pain. They have no frame of reference for pain that's happening to someone else. They can only see inactivity - which they interpret as laziness.”

“It has been said that life has treated me harshly; and sometimes I have complained in my heart because many pleasures of human experience have been withheld from meif much has been denied me, much,...”

“God's time is slow, patient, and kind and welcomes friendship; it is a way of being in the fullness of time that is not determined by productivity, success, or linear movements toward personal goal...”

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”

“All Earthquakes and Disasters are warnings theres too much corruption in the world ”

“Its only when youre at the bottom of the ladder that you ascend.”