My Life According to Baseball

I’ve compared my life to both football and basketball, which by the way, there were so many comparisons to my everyday life, so I wanted to compare it to baseball. After all, it is the season of Apple Pie, Warm Weather, and an American past time!

Back in my teens, I attended a summer camp named Camp Variety. Besides bowling and swimming, baseball was another activity I enjoyed when it wasn’t too hot, and bugs weren’t flying around.

As I think back, many of the plays of this game can be compared to my life’s situation. For instance, one of my favorite plays in baseball was to, bunt. I’ve often had to bunt a lot in my life. At times, I just couldn’t take a full swing.  I needed to save my energy, like when my personal caregiver does not show up to help me get ready in the mornings. On these days, maybe what I was going to wear or eat had to change so I could care for myself. I’ve even worn a hat as a bunt technique to make sure I still looked good.

Another play I can relate too is when the batter gets a walk. Unfortunately, the world can be a cruel place filled with discrimination against many, including people with disabilities. When this play happens, it’s usually because of someone’s ignorance or giving bad customer service. Let people correct their mistakes with an upgraded room, a piece of pie, or a credit. Take that walk!

My life as a person with a disability is good. I wake up in a good head space, at least 95% percent of time. Every blue moon I wake up at 100%! When I’m at my absolute best I can hit a fastball out of the park. It doesn’t matter how fast life is coming at me when I’m in the fastball zone because for some reason I’m able to juggle and accomplish everything coming my way. Truly, it’s at this time when that tough Super Cooper’s spirit comes pouring out of me.

Have you ever had to slide to just make it in life? I slide a lot and it really gets my adrenaline pumping. At first it seems like you just can’t make it. For me that means being able to do daily activities that some may take for granted such as, trying to reach a can of pop that’s in the back of the refrigerator; but when that motivation hits me, I find the ability to reach as far as I can and grab it. Talk about the great feeling of a slide. Before you give up, try this play. You may just find you have enough umph to make it home.

Remember, not all plays have to be exceptional. Sometimes, I settle for a single play. A single play helps you get one step closer to where you’re trying to go. My thoughts are, as long as you’re moving, you’re doing good.

Although, I’m cool with a single, I’m ecstatic when I get a home run! My favorite example of my home run is when I gave my 2014 Ted Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVV6fuF59j0. Unfortunately, during my talk, my PowerPoint presentation disappeared. I could’ve frozen but I kept going. My Ted Talk is one of my greatest home runs!

Baseball is a cool game and I’m so happy I had chance to compare my life to it. I’m sure there’re are many more plays I can refer to so I guess there will be a part two. Until then, stay steady and continue to play ball!