Cooper Jones


Patience, It’s something I’ve always struggled with, but as I’ve grown older I’ve been forced to understand that waiting is something that’ll happen throughout my life, and the only way to get through it is to learn how to be patient. Being someone with a disability, everything seems to take a lot longer. From getting ready in the morning to finding accessible routes to finding sources of transportation, every part of my life has always involved a lot of waiting, and this has always annoyed me. 

For example, six months ago, I started the process of getting my driver’s license, at first I didn’t think anything of it, I knew that once I got my permit I would be able to start driving with my parents no problem. But unlike most kids with a permit, I had to get my car fitted with hand controls. I didn’t think It would take that long, but seven weeks later It still wasn’t finished. I was upset, It felt so unfair that while everyone else around was able to start driving I still wasn’t able to even use my permit. As more and more time went on though I realized how silly it was to be annoyed, I realized that there was really no point in getting angry with my situation and I realized that I would be a lot happier if I just accepted what was happening. 

Through this experience and many similar ones seem like a disadvantage, Looking back on them, I can see that they’ve all taught me a valuable lesson, they have developed me into a better, more patient person. 

In anyone’s lifetime, there’s going to be a lot of things that seem out of your control but that’s ok. As long as you’re able to let these things go instead of fighting them they won’t have any power over you. It’s often hard to do this when something unfair is happening to you but you need to take a step back and realize that getting angry isn’t going to solve your problems but is only gonna make you feel worse. Though you can’t always make things turn out the way you want them to, you’ll always be able to choose how you react to them, and that’s all that really matters. You can either make yourself miserable by focusing on the negatives or you can make the most of it, by trying to learn from it and grow as a person.