Malala #WCW

It's that time of the week again. My #WCW tribute this week is for a young woman by the name of Malala Yousafzai.  You may or may not know of her, but she is a truly inspiring young lady.

Three things I learned from Malala:

1) When you find your passion follow it- that is your purpose. By the age of fifteen, Malala knew her passion.  Since then she has been fighting for the right to education for girls around the world.  She went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

2) Bravery and courage are important when following your passion.  Malala was brave enough to blog anonymously for the BBC about life under Taliban rule, in Pakistan, at the age of eleven.  She expressed her concern that her school would be attacked.  She eventually began appearing on radio and TV shows and her identity was no longer anonymous. 

3) Your willpower and strength are insurmountable.  Malala was shot in the face by Taliban upset that she continued to speak out about the importance of education for girls.  She fully recovered and continued to speak out for girls around the world.  She now has The Malala Fund which works to secure access to twelve years of free, quality education for girls.

Malala did most of these things by the time she was fifteen years old.  When I see her on a talk show my heart just swells.  Malala reminds me that people can be amazing and do amazing things.  If we could only have the courage to follow and, if necessary, fight for our passions.

Did I Mention I Love to Read?

I'm currently reading a fantastic book series. The series is "The Game" by Terry Schott. The premise is bizarre and really alters your way of thinking about life.  In short, Earth is a planet where avatars from another planet live several lives as a replacement for traditional schooling- youth gain much more knowledge by living and learning from real life experiences. 

What I really enjoy about the books is the emphasis on: 1.Life is just a game, and you receive more points for doing meaningful things, so don't "waste a play"; and 2. Anything is possible on earth- people just don't realize they can do anything.  In the book, very skilled individuals can even learn to fly. 

As one who suffers from a chronic, progressive muscle disorder, I am often perturbed by people who say "you can do anything you put your mind to."  Because sometimes, you physically cannot.  No matter how hard you try.  Recently however, even I have noticed small changes in my body's abilities.

I started practicing yoga last August... only 8 months ago.  And from time to time I will try something in class that I wasn't able to do when I first started.  I am getting better.  My body is getting stronger.  Maybe it's only a small change, and maybe it's not enough to affect the challenges of daily living, but how remarkable it is to notice those small progressions.

I've always thought that muscle strengthening, for me, was a lost cause.  You're constantly taking one step forward for every two steps back.  But my physical therapist will even say things like "I don't think you were able to do that 3 months ago..."  Our bodies are amazing machines, and we need to continually perform maintenance (healthy eating and regular exercise) in order to have the strongest machine possible.

Perhaps with a little extra effort we are able to achieve anything...