The Advocacy Life Podcast & Blog

Category: Content Creation

  • Spiritual Growing Pains part 2

    Spiritual Growing Pains part 2

    Hello, good people. How are you guys? Let me know in the comments. For me, I just set up my fantasy football league and saw the first episode of House of the Dragon The Game of Thrones spin-off. I’ve always admired authors like George R. R . Martin and JK Rowling. They were able to look at a blank page and create an entire world. That is a gift.  I am a writer but my journey is different than theirs. We all have gifts that take time to develop. From roughly 16 to about 25 the world told me “You can do anything.” They say if you throw pasta at the wall and it sticks it’s done.  I started a bunch of projects and went the college 3 different times. Nothing went the way it was supposed to. So, I started to believe it.

    In this three-dimensional world value and performance are judged on results. That can be measured by human standards. We are taught this from our childhoods. After a certain point every year, every test is measured into an average to determine our grades. Baseball players are offered multi-million dollar deals based on their mathematical averages. Singers and DJs can count how many people they make dance. A boxer fights until their opponent is knocked down or once again they’re judged on performance. How much money is in your account determines where you can live. The authors mentioned above are world-renowned   How can I quantify my value?

    “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” 2 Corinthians 7:10 NIV

    Yes, I published a book and I’ve had this blog and podcast for a few years now. However, print media is on life support and there is a podcast for everything. Writing is not a sexy occupation. When was the last time you saw anyone that published anything on career day at school? You will see doctors, lawyers, and even plumbers. I rejected this gift for the longest time because I subscribed to the same line of thought. With my calling statistics can be misleading. I can see how many books are shipped out and how many followers I have, but the message cannot be delivered once the book is received if it sits on their coffee table. We all get a lot of emails. It’s impossible to read them all. In modern times I’ve never heard a girl say “I fell in love with him through his writing.” I do not have a silky smooth voice. My laugh is like a dying seal.  When I sit in front of my tablet and or laptop I can’t let a coworker finish my ideas. All I can do is have someone proofread it. It takes approximately 3 hours to produce a 15-minute episode. What hope do I have? 

    I meditated on these sets of questions For a few days I was in a horrible funk. The Holy Spirit gave me answers! Do you want to know a secret? I always say a prayer and listen to one gospel song before I sit down to write or press record. A speech by George Washington is still out there in the universe. The same as Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech. All sounds never die They only dissipate beyond our physical hearing. When I write I’m not alone. I write with the help of the Holy Spirit. That’s the same force that is making the Bible lasts over 2,000 years I may never know the names of the people who were impacted by my productions, but God does. I will undoubtedly get lonely from time to time but that is only temporary. Through faith, we can live forever. Thank you to anyone who took the time to read these words I’m simply trying to share what was on my heart. These past two blogs were written in quick succession after a rough few days.

  • An Interabled Love Story Part 1

    An Interabled Love Story Part 1

    Happy Wednesday wonderful friends. I’ve been a blogger for a few years now, but people don’t know it because I relaunched my website in March of 2022. As part of that relaunch, I wanted to focus on sharing the stories of other disabled content creators.  I recently had a chance to catch up with Margaret and Charlie two very good friends of mine. I can’t wait to share the latest interview I had with them but before I do It’s important to reintroduce their story to all my new followers. Below is the first interview I have with them back in the spring of 2020. You can read more about the story on their blog Just interabled Things. Come back next week to learn more about their story.

    “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:4‭-‬7 NIV

      Margaret and Charlie are an interabled couple from New York.  For those of you who don’t know “Interabled” is the term used when one of the partners in the relationship has some sort of disability and the other is “normal.” Charlie is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy like me. In some ways, the disability community can be very small Charlie and I started networking after I discovered his blog with Margaret. Anyone who knows me would tell you that I’m not the kind of guy who falls for sappy love stories. I can’t tell you the last romantic comedy I sat down to watch. They are usually reserved for background noise. The reason I fell in love with their story was simply that it was real and not Hollywood fiction. They provide hope for those of us in the disability community on a very taboo topic, disability, and love. Thank you to Margaret and Charlie for participating in this blog. I hope we can all learn something from it. Love Is Love.

    Please tell all of us how you met.

        – We met on an app called Hinge. I (Margaret) had joined Hinge on Sunday and wasn’t sure if I was going to keep the app for long because I was never a fan of the whole online dating thing. Monday morning I checked my phone at work and saw a message from Charlie and we spent the whole day talking. 

    What first attracted you to each other?

        — Margret: I fell in love with Charlie’s smile. If I am being honest, I still fall for his smile every day. 

        — Charlie: My disability was not the first conversation we had. Margaret wanted to know who I was other than my disability.

    Name one annoying habit about the other that you would not change.

        – Margaret: Charlie likes to sleep impossibly close to me, but I honestly can’t imagine not sleeping, literally holding each other. 

        — Charlie: I was never a person who naps. Margaret loves her naps and I now love them, all thanks to her.

    How do you know it was love and not just some passing fling?

        – Margaret: The second time we FaceTimed, we sat there for almost 6 hours talking. We never ran out of things to talk about and the conversation just felt natural.

        — Charlie: I don’t want to be cliche but I am going to anyway, it was when I woke up the second day after we matched and she was still there.

    What would you tell someone starting an interabled relationship?

        – Margaret: Keep an open mind, do not let their disability scare you off, and don’t be afraid to ask them questions about what they need help with. It is not for everyone, not everyone is meant to date someone with a disability, and society is not ready for it either so you will get looked at, you will get asked if you’re their aid or their sibling even and people will stare, just let them.

        — Charlie: Come in with an open mind, get to know them more than their disability but realize that their disability is still a part of who they are.

    Some people would say that people with a disability should only date other people with disabilities because only they will understand. How do you respond to that?

        — Margaret: I would say that you don’t need to have a disability to completely understand if you are able to put yourself in their shoes. 

        — Charlie: I personally wouldn’t date another person with a disability, we would both need help that we couldn’t give each other.

    There is a misconception that Margaret must have sacrificed everything to be with Charlie. What do you think about that?

        – Margaret: It is definitely a misconception. There really isn’t anything that I have had to sacrifice to be with Charlie. The only thing really is that when we are getting ready for the day or to go somewhere it takes longer because I have to get Charlie ready and get myself ready, but we have gotten it down to a system and it does not even take that long anymore, especially our weekday mornings when I have work.

    Is being Charlie’s main caregiver a burden?

        – Margaret: I would say no. The caregiving aspects of our relationship to me are just more things for us to do together. Being in an interabled relationship brings a whole new level of intimacy to the relationship.

    I apologize for this question, you guys do NOT have to answer it. I’m just asking it because I know someone will ask it. It is Nobody’s Business. I would never ask a stranger but I wanted my blog to be real. Can you have sex and are you both satisfied?

     Both   – Yes and yes, that’s as detailed as that’ll ever get, I get people being curious but our sex life is just for us.

    What do you guys see yourselves in the next 5 years?

    Both — I would say that we want to be living in a different state, be married, and have a few dogs. 

  • A Proud Podcaster

    A Proud Podcaster

    Hello beautiful people, your favorite little blogger is back. I decided when I relaunched this blog I wanted to dedicate a little time to the content creation process. People think it’s easy when they like our posts and leave comments. I am not an influencer and I will never be the best blogger in the world. I just want my work to reach the right people. No one realizes the amount of effort it takes to put part of yourself out there continuously. In the hopes of helping someone in one way or another. Whether it’s youtube, Instagram, blogging, or podcasting I just want to say thank you and congratulations for all you’ve done.

    For now, I want to shed some light on a lady named Jennifer Briney, the host of Congressional Dish. My absolute favorite podcast. To be clear she has not sponsored me or asked me to write anything about the show. We have never met or collaborated in any way. Every once in a while she will comment or like one of my tweets and I will have a complete nerdgasm. Some of you may know I attempted on two separate occasions to do a podcast of my own for disability awareness. for me, a 15-minute episode took about an hour and a half to produce the final product. I cannot imagine trying to record two episodes a month for almost 10 years as she has pretty much done by herself. That amazes me! In today’s world, to have any kind of Project last that long. 

    “whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others;
    Psalms 15:3 NIV”

    Here is the description of the show directly from her website:

    “Congressional Dish is a podcast that since 2012 has been aiming to draw attention to where the American people truly have power: Congress. From the perspective of a fed-up taxpayer with no allegiance to any political party, Jennifer Briney will fill you in on the must-know information about what our representatives do AFTER the elections and how their actions can and do affect our day to day lives.” 

    Click here to read more

     Her podcast is completely independent of any commercial influences as she depends on donations from her audience to produce the program. Briney begins each show by stating that she has no allegiance to either party. I believe her because each episode is over an hour-long without any commercials. All claims made on the program are backed up by sources that she listed throughout the entirety of the episode,  including a list of show notes for the audience to see for themselves. I first glance the show is about politics but in my humble opinion, It gives us a window into our society and our culture. I don’t always agree with her conclusions and opinions but she always leaves me something to think about.

     I have secretly compiled a mountain of research over the years That proves corporate overlords make their money by keeping people with disabilities locked in poverty.  The general public doesn’t realize this Someone with her neutrality would be able to do an episode on this issue. If by any reason she happens to read this I promise I’m not trying to make you do any more work than you already do. It would just be a cool idea   Americans need to be aware of the responsibilities we all have to stay Americans.  Below I will list a few of my favorite episodes for you guys to check out. Once again thank you all for your time and see you next Wednesday.

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