No excuses! Marissa Meleske transcends Spina Bifida.

Woman are powerful people. We have to be. As a woman, the odds are already stacked high against us. Even with all the strides the women’s rights movement has made, some people are still stuck in the past, believing men are superior. We are constantly trying to prove that we are just as worthy as any man. Add to all of that, that we are also human beings with other issues besides living up to society’s standards of a man and it can be very overwhelming. Not only are we striving to achieve in a “man’s world” but we are also constantly sizing ourselves up against other women, other family members, friends, and the list goes on. Any human being will tell you they’ve been through the same.

Life is a journey, not a destination. It is a journey that you must constantly grow while you are on it. If you aren’t growing on your journey of life, you are just existing, not living. Every experience you go through is meant to teach you something and help you grow as a human being. Even the tragedies of life and its’ hard times are meant to teach you a valuable, necessary lesson. In fact, those times are when there is the most potential for growth. Life truly is a wild ride, a rollercoaster.

My own journey, thus far, has been a pretty typical one. However, I realize that that is merely from my own perspective. What is normal and typical for me may look foreign to someone else. That is a beautiful thing, however, because it creates opportunities for me to teach others and for that I am grateful. You see, I was born with Spina Bifida. Truthfully, I don’t even want to get into what that is… one, because it’s too long a tedious to explain and two, I don’t define myself by my challenges.

“I’m defined by the strength and courage from within that I draw on to overcome not just my challenges since birth, but any other challenges that come my way every day.”

I’ve lived every day of my life hearing people telling me why I can’t do something or won’t be able to do something. The keyword here is hearing. Just because I’ve heard people say it doesn’t mean I listen to them. In fact, their words drive me to prove them wrong! My parents were once told I would never be able to sit up, crawl, have control over my bowel and bladder and so much more. My fate was to be a vegetable before I was even given a fighting chance. The sad part is, many parents are given the option of aborting a baby born with Spina Bifida. That saddens me because the doctors make it sound so scary that some parents actually go through with that. Doctors are not God and their word should not be final. There are so many miracle babies and so many people who are told one thing by a doctor and they overcome it. I do everything I was told I would never do by doctors and then some! Sometimes it takes me a little bit longer to find creative loopholes around things that I won’t do the same way as everyone else, but I do it in my own way, which counts just as much!

You will never learn and grow if you listen to what others say about you and your life. They don’t matter anyway. Chances are they are looking at your life because they don’t have the courage you do, to take chances in their own lives. Life is all about taking chances. Sure, we should always strive to be the best at anything we tackle in life, but:

What is the worst that can happen if we fail?

Really think about that question for a minute. Taking a chance and failing is better than not trying at all. If you don’t try, you will be living with “what if?” in the back of your mind for the rest of your life. If you don’t do it, not only will the “what if’s?” eat you up, but you will end up resenting everyone who told you that you couldn’t do it. You will beat yourself up for listening to them and end up resenting them for what they said. Even if you “KNOW” you are going to fall flat on your face, figuratively or literally, as Martina McBride says…always “do it anyway.” You may just surprise yourself!