The Loudmouth Mooch

There's no guidebook to having a disability.  I guess you could say that about having any minority-determining or stress-inducing factor you deal with. But for now, I have the urge to reflect on what it means to create your very own guidebook for your life. After years of going to school while working part-time jobs, then moving to the workforce when I graduated from LSU, and then the constant go-go-go lifestyle that America is so known for, my body just shut down thanks to my disability. For seven months of being on short-term disability, I sat in my house and wondered if I'd ever recover from this bad spell of fatigue and soreness. Those seven months were some of the more trying moments in my life. Between determining if I could work again, if I wasn't letting down the organization I was working for, feeling like a huge burden to the loved ones around me, wondering if I could take an impromptu nine hour trip to Tampa in the middle of the night while on STD (spoiler...

After reading such a clickbait title, I need to stress something: I was not harmed in the fall so don't worry. With that out of the way, I reiterate,   I fell in the shower today. As my falls normally go, they happen completely unexpectedly. I'll turn a certain way, pivot on my knee in just the right spot, or I stomp my foot down with a little too much force   when I'm walking and then suddenly, I'm on the floor. Thankfully, I've learned to "princess fall" where I instinctually catch myself in a squat or lay out my hands in a coordinated manner. Despite my self-proclaimed grace, every time I always have a split second of panic. This time was a little different. I caught myself in a squat, but the hot water streaming down my shampooed head was unrelenting and frightening. The idea of trying to use every ounce of my will to stand myself up on the slippery tub floor was daunting. For about five minutes, I kept wondering, should I chance trying to stan...