Since I’ve started PositivelyAdri, people have reached out and told me I helped them out in some way, and sometimes that was someone I never expected to read in the first place. It’s why I continue to talk about my life openly- I make a difference, whether it’s for one person or for a handful of people.

I’ve dealt with some challenges the last couple of months, but nevertheless got through it and am here to share!

4. Improved My Physical Independence at Home

When I first came home from school in December, I didn’t have the same physical independence as in my college apartment. You may or may not know this but I live in an inaccessible home- it used to be easy for me up until this year. I could barely walk up and down my stairs anymore (where I used to with assistance). That also meant I wasn’t able to leave my house when I was by myself.

Although my living situation is not ideal, my family and I have been making changes to our home while looking for a new house. We installed a stairlift inside, and recently a ramp outside. This made traveling around and leaving the house MUCH easier for me. Not only reinforcing my independence, but my happiness as well.

3. Started to Travel on My Own

This partly goes along with independence because 1 not driving myself, I had to stay home when my parents were at work/friends at school and 2 I don’t always want to have to rely on someone to drive me places. I am physically able to drive with the adaptive hand controls, but I just wasn’t ready to drive at the age of 16 so I waited. As I was finishing up college, the hunt for adaptive driving lessons began. Long story short, I started driving this past March.

Other than hoping to get my driver’s license at some point, I also started using Able-Ride which is a bus service in my county for people with physical disabilities. So for example, one random Tuesday afternoon, I decided to go to the mall with the bus. I haven’t used it much because I have to plan these trips at least 24 hours prior. It’s annoying but I’m just glad this is now an option for me too!

2. Dealt with Difficult Hardships

I had to let go of a few friends these past couple months. These were not light decisions for me, but also necessary. I am someone who cannot just ignore something not being done right, to me and to the people I’m close to. I’m proud of the way I handled these situations because I had trouble letting go a few years back in a similar situation. Letting go on my own terms was a good feeling.

Although this has not been easy for me, I’ve been focusing on family and good friends in my life. Thinking about and being with them helps me move forward. And honestly, there isn’t much else to say, I feel like I’ve had more difficult hardships than this. Life goes on ya know!

1. Didn’t Give Up on the Post-Grad Job Search

And finally, what most college graduates have difficulty with: finding a job. When I first got home, I started my job search right away. The first two weeks were relaxing and I didn’t mind being home all the time, but after that, the boredom struck me. I even started to think about how much I wanted to go back to having my school workload lol. Next were months of phone calls, virtual interviews… and then rejection emails.

In Mid-May, I lucked out and got a fashion marketing internship for the summer. Not only am I now not bored lol, but I also really enjoy it- and think this will be a great experience for me. I know the internship comes to an end, so I’ll be back at the job search soon enough! Maybe it will be easier to find work, maybe it will take longer than before, who knows???

There are moments where I don’t feel strong enough to take on a challenge. But I do it anyway because I know that it’s all supposed to work out, even if it’s not right there and then.

-Adri

With that being said, I’m happy with the way things are going right now. But of course, life’s never that easy, not for any of us. More challenges will come, but we just gotta roll with it 😉