I dont know about tomorrow but today Im happy

[Applause]

today

i’d like to tell you a bit about a

serious issue

a problem that many people face that

of a chronic illness you see often when

a person is diagnosed with any serious

problem or condition

sadness follows this isn’t

really a big concern for me because as

you can see i’m a pretty happy person

even though i’ve been diagnosed with a

chronic blood condition

and to be honest i don’t know about

tomorrow

but today i’m pretty happy

the point i’m trying to convey here is

that any disorder or condition you have

shouldn’t be a barrier to your goals it

shouldn’t be some lame excuse to step

back from living a life

full of potential

i have a blood disorder called long

librarian’s disease

it’s a condition in which i’m missing

the walmart brands factor

a crucial protein that helps my blood

clot to put in simple english

i bleed a lot

almost twice as much as a normal person

and if you’re wondering no there isn’t a

cure for it

it’s something i’ll have to live with

forever

it’s pretty much a life sentence but i

don’t have to wear orange

and yet i don’t share a cell with a

bunch of convicts

people with von willebrands often get

lots of nose weeds and if not supply was

the type of medicine called humatep

their nose complete up to four hours and

since having injections

isn’t really my thing i have to take

lots of precautions

meaning i can’t play sports like hockey

soccer basketball you got the gist of it

however i can still participate in a lot

of less aggressive sports

like running cycling fencing and

badminton

as a matter of fact just this winter i

went skiing almost

every other day and though i do try to

be careful

i’m still good and there is no deny that

kids are

not the best at that even when i think

i’m careful

i get an urge to be part of my favorite

game which leads me to suffer

the utter consequences of course

it’s always quite serious i’ve been sent

from school

many times due to my own stupidity

once i got a nosebleed that lasted more

than an hour

why because i tripped on my own

shoelaces

another time i bled profusely was when i

tried to attack my friend

juan while running up the hill just as i

was about to tag him

i slipped and landed right smack on my

face

and the dam broke again in other words

my nose and lips turned into a red

niagara falls

needless to say my mother was notified

immediately i fell asleep during that 45

minute car ride to the hospital

after a while i didn’t mind the fact

that i could only taste an inhaled blood

in fact the only thing i could think of

was how they put the jelly inside their

jelly donuts

when i woke up we were at the hospital

and my lips had started bleeding

it turns out i only had a small coat on

my lips but my nose was still a bloody

faucet

i got from that blood stained car seat

and walked into the er

with my mother pinching my nose a nurse

handed me a small cardboard tray in case

there was more blood dripping

even under the fierce amount of pressure

being put on my nose

and even after i had received my shots

there was still blood going into that

tree

for up to an hour around a month after

this incident

my mother started learning how to

perform these injections

soon after i could even do it myself

now you might be thinking it’s weird a

12 year old kid who sticks needles into

himself

can’t play most sports like other kids

and makes frequent er trips

how could i still be happy especially

when i’m not really an optimist

well let me tell you what worked for me

the first thing

is to just be realistic expecting

greater things is good of course

but there are certain things that we

just can’t get up to

take 2020 for example it was one of the

worst years in human history

but if you dig deep enough on instagram

twitter or look at some reddit threads

you can find people saying that 2020 was

gonna be their

year many people learn new things

where you some just wipe their dirty

hands probably just done

binge watching seinfeld friends or even

the office

so having high hopes is great at all but

there are some things that we can just

not get up to

secondly make it work for you for me

this can be finding another sport to

play since i can’t play hockey

soccer or basketball i fence run and

play bamton

do i miss out on being part of a team

where my friends are

of course i do but i’m not about to kill

myself

every week just to try to do some layups

in a school gym

if you have limitations it’s probably a

good idea to find substitutes

for things i are vulnerable to instead

of avoiding everything

and living a really miserable life but

by far the most important thing i would

like to mention here

is to take time for yourself chill relax

listen to music play video games go to

happy hour

and how with your friends surround

yourselves with things that you enjoy

and like

this has honestly been the best stir

fruit for me

and after a long day at school or work

with assignments projects and

powerpoints it’s totally

liberating just to chill and listen to

some music

so pretty easy right be realistic find

what works for you

and take time for yourself but hey i’m

not a psychiatrist

i’m just sharing what works for me who

knows

it may work for you too so you may have

a chronic

condition like me i know it sucks

but i’m gonna live my life in a way it

sucks less

because this is life and there is so

much more to it

and if you want me to be completely

honest i know

absolutely nothing about tomorrow but

today

i’m pretty happy