You Are Awesome, Embrace It.

I am Ifeanyi Nwokoro and I am awesome.

Why? I’ll tell you why.

I am awesome because I am a young black man, born and bred in Lagos, Nigeria. I am a proud member of a loving family. I am the son of a great man and a wonderful woman. I am the brother, cousin, nephew and uncle to the craziest most amazing group of people I know. I am a spinal cord injury survivor. I am unable to walk. I am afraid of sharp objects. I am good with computers, bad with deadlines. I am in a wheelchair. I am a geek. I love women, I hate stupidity. I love food, I hate school. I am stubborn but I love to learn. I love sports. I hide my emotions. I love hydrotherapy. I hate not being in control. I do not fear death. I get easily frightened. I could lose a few pounds. I don’t like unnecessary attention. I am insecure about my disability. I am proud of my disability. I envy my brothers courage. I envy my sisters heart. I envy my mother’s ability to love. I love to feel envied. I am illogically obsessed with superheroes. I hate horror. I have only ever voluntarily read one book from front to back, Tom’s Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce. I was raised a Christian. I don’t identify with any one religion. I love driving. I cannot physically drive. I love my friends, they are my extended family. I can cut a friend out of my life in a second even if it hurts for years. I have made MANY mistakes and I am not done yet. I learn from every mistake and am grateful for them. I have many regrets and things I would change, decisions I would make differently and actions I would take differently. I have so many things I wouldn’t change for the world. I am flawed and that makes me perfect.

But most importantly, I am awesome because there isn’t another “me” on this planet. The circumstances needed to make me who I am are infinitely improbable… but here I stand. Wars have been fought, empires have risen and fallen, the earth has been moved so that I can be. An eternity of events could have happened differently and I would not exist, but here I am. There is no one else exactly like me, they can try to be but they will fail. No one else sees my world or knows my thoughts. Because of this I know I am awesome, I accept it and I will make it count.

But hold on a second, I just realised something. Sit down, you’ll want to hear this part. There isn’t another YOU on this planet either. The circumstances needed to make you who you are are infinitely improbable… but here you stand. Wars have been fought, empires have risen and fallen, the earth has been moved so that you can be. An eternity of events could have happened differently and you would not exist, but here you are. There is no one else exactly like you, they can try to be but they will fail. No one else sees your world or knows your thoughts. Because of this you should know you are awesome and you have to embrace it and make it count.