Now my body is showing me how we underestimated him

Translation from Afrikaans (Nou wys my lyf my hoe ons hom onderskat het.)to English done by mom with the help of Google Translator.

My body has always been my worst part: it doesn’t struggle to act up, but when it comes to doing something I want to do, it’s a different story.

It is a struggle, to say the least.

It is so difficult that we often give up before we have even tried.

It’s such a struggle, that we don’t try anymore because we’ve had too many disappointments. We are not ready to face more disappointments. The only time my body has not let me down yet, is because we don’t expect anything more from it.

All my body has always been able to do well is act up, because I can do that without difficulty.

My body’s level of functioning is far below that of my brain. My brain is far ahead of other people my age, but my body is like that of a young child who still struggles to get simple things done.

My mom is not worried about my body, so she doesn’t bother to teach my body new things anymore. It’s ok, because my mom helps my brain to learn really smart things that help me handle my body better. But now my body lags even further behind. Now my body falls even further behind because we don’t make much effort with it.

Because this year is now a “gap” year for me, because I don’t go to school, it is a good time to pay attention to my body so that my body can get better. Because my body struggles so much, it is hard to learn new things. Even though it is not easy, it is still important to me to learn new things for my body.

To help me with my body, my dad and my sister are better than my mom. They help me very nicely. The best is if they help me to get my body to also do chores on the farm with them.  As a result,  I am able to give milk to the lambs, help feed the sheep and open and close the gates. It sounds like very simple things for a boy of my age to be able to do, but for me these are very excellent achievements that I have mastered.

The greatest highlight for me was when they helped me, with my body, so that I could join them in moving the sheep to our winter farm. It was the greatest achievement I have ever achieved with my body.

My body surprised us all, most of all myself. It wasn’t easy to successfully coach my body to get it to do the right things. We struggled. The first day my sister was quite discouraged about my body not wanting to cooperate, but she had a nice chat with me that evening. We made plans together about how she should handle my body if it goes off track. Now, that sounds a lot easier than it is. But, she listened carefully to what I told her and she helped me very efficiently the next day. When we got to the last day of the trek (migration), my body was really handy. He worked well with the sheep.

My mum was so surprised when she saw how well I was doing with the sheep. It was  great to see how happy she was when she saw how well I manage my body. Without my sister’s help, we certainly wouldn’t have been able to get it right. She helped me a lot to enable myself to get my body to herd the sheep at the right time and place, at the right speed. In order not to scare the sheep, I had to remain calm. Not letting my body get out of control is not always easy. But, out there in the open air, with my Sister, walking behind the sheep, my body was super calm. It was the best feeling I have ever experienced.

I was the happiest I have ever been about getting this right. It will forever be my best reminder of my body’s ability that we underestimated. It gave me so much hope for my future as I had achieved so much more than I could have ever dreamed possible.

When I wrote about us moving the sheep, 2 years ago (My body learns a lesson.), I could never have dreamed that I myself would be able to walk behind the sheep for the three days, could keep my body calm for so many kilometers, nor that I could be of so much help. We struggled with the workers who didn’t understand their work, but there was no need to scold me. My body did what it had to do.  It was a big thing for me. This experience will always help me to keep my spirits up when I struggle with my body.