Be Mindful

Hello 🙂 I hope you are all well and have had a good week, this weeks blog focuses on being mindful both out in real life and social media. A lot of my previous blogs have focused on understanding and the importance of it. Being mindful whilst as well as being understanding is about being aware, of your words you actions and how they might affect people. Sometimes you have to step back and look around and appreciate how different and diverse the world, each person is different and unique. You never know what someone might be going through, what they find easy, what they might struggle with, what their strengths might be, you never know who might have an invisible difference, disability or illness and how it might effect them.

On my journey to work one day this week my balance and spacial awareness were awful, I was wobbling all over the place couldn’t keep still and had zero awareness of myself in the space I was in I was typically having a very dyspraxic day, my balance and co-ordination and awareness of myself in a space has never been my forte in life, if you’ve ever met me I’m sure you’ll have picked up on that. As my balance has always been a struggle  as a child I could literally fall over thin air and you’d never get me going ice skating or ski-ing done it once never again! I’ve always needed to feel safe, so need to hold onto something whilst on a bus or train whilst it is moving, on uneven ground, going up and down stairs especially in crowds and large groups of people. Luckily when I’m out and about with my boyfriend as well as being nice and holding my hand, it can act as a balance aid helping me get on and off trains, go up and down stairs and genuinely any situation where I feel unsteady on my feet. Maybe that will be a surprise to some of you who know us well.  But when I’m on my own things can be a little bit more of a challenge, even though I’ve lived in my home all my life I still grip the banister for dear life when I go up and down the stairs and I’ve had a few falls over the years involving twisting ankles which left me feeling very anxious and understandably wary, but it does mean I’ve had to develop coping strategies which include taking my time, making sure there is nothing in the way on stairs at home and lots of practise.

But on Tuesday I was accidentally banging into people or accidentally getting my bag in the way or accidentally loosing my footing and standing on peoples toes. Even though I profusely apologised and my cheeks were a glowing shade of red, I still got glares, tuts and looks of disapproval and got asked in a very rude manner to stop being so careless and look where I was going. This hasn’t been the first time it’s happened and even though it is upsetting and in the past has made me very self conscious, insecure and loose my confidence it’s strengthened me and my attitude how to treat others with respect.

That’s just one aspect of dyspraxia in my previous blogs I’ve talked about the more emotional, sensory and anxiety side of things. When I get very anxious I get very literal and my body movements get very jerky or I start pacing around many people probably wonder what on earth is going on but it’s my body/brains reaction to being overwhelmed, or I can go very quiet and into myself  and not make eye contact which means it can be misconceived as rudeness. It’s so important however frustrating or mindfull it is when someone might do something it’s important to mindful, as sometimes people simply can’t help being the way they are, it’s just how our brains are wired. We don’t mean to upset or make anyone feel uncomfortable just sometimes we don’t have control of what our bodies are doing. The same goes on social media, you never know who might have a hidden difference on there, you might think someone posts about a specific interest constantly, or sometimes they might have spelling mistakes or how the way that they are phrased, some people are very open about why the way they are, but it’s also so important to remember that some people are very private and choose not to disclose.

 Be aware about what could affect someones self esteem, confidence, be kind, say something which can make someone smile and feel good about themselves. Try to have an open mind see how diverse the world is, try not to be judgemental. Be the best version of yourself online and offline, treat others how you would be want to be treated yourselves, we’re all only human and have insecurities whether theres a label behind it or not. We all need some understanding once in a while.