He looked at me and said “sorry Mr. Saliki but you can’t drive”. This was a day that I found out that I will never get to drive a car for the rest of my life. Time stood still for a few minutes as my consultant handed me a piece of paper discharging me from his care. I had gone to see him hoping that he was going to help me, hoping that he was going to find what the problem was and he was going to sort me out. I left the hospital with the diagnosis and also with the knowledge that my eyes will never get better. This got me thinking about a lot of things that I could not do because of my eye condition, I needed to get a job in a place that was in the centre or a place with public transport. For a few months my future prospects were poor. After a few months I started looking at this from another angle, me not been able drive meant that I could not work in certain parts of the city but that did not mean I could not get a job anywhere. I realised that I could not do certain jobs but that did not mean I could not do anything else. This realisation helped me to carry on dreaming in my life.

What is stopping you from doing the things you really want? I could have said that because of my eyes I could not write a book, I could have said that because of my eyes I could not live the life the life that I want. However I said that despite of my eye condition I am going to live the life that I want. The eye condition that could have stooped many a person did not stop me because I knew that no matter how difficult the path there is always going to be a way. Was the journey easy? No it was not, I had to change jobs on two different occasions because the people I was working for could not make reasonable adjustments. Did this stop me? No, I knew there is always a way. My willingness to not give up and do whatever it took to live the life I want brought me where I am today. I have a question for you today, what is stopping you from living the life you want? Have you ever taken a moment to find a way out of your difficulties? If you have not today is the day you looked at how you can overcome your obstacles, if you do this, I promise you, your life will never be the same again.