CJ Janzen

Transcript

12 years ago I got the most wicked birthday present ever a wicked virus and it put me in this chair and don't it always seem to go That You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone I have yet to recover on my bad days my speech is slurred my ability to find the simplest of words poof gone and my thoughts get lost within the fog of my wandering mind but on my worst days even breathing no longer feels automatic and I find myself wishing I could be put on a ventilator just for a little while to allow my body to fully rest but even

with all of that I always look on the bright side of life exactly because then I have days like this where I have hoarded a meager reserve of energy to be here on this stage ready to Sparkle because I'm so excited I live for days like this and I pay for days like this but the physical cost becomes inconsequential because speaking brings me joy and feeds my soul my friends asked me hey CJ how is it that you can be happy all the time wait what no one can be happy all of the time but I am happy most of the time in large part

it's due to create in my quote which is choose to live joyously within the Tempest of adversity those words completely changed my outlook on life and I still use them as a mantra to persevere through my darkest of days but then I wondered but how do you cope because we all have days where life hits that big old suck button right I know I've dealt with more than my fair share of suck from abuse as a child watching my mom die of cancer when I was a teen to now battling three life-threatening illnesses my neuroimmune illness called myalgic and seom myelitis say that three times

fast my alcoholism now thankfully over 11 and a half years sober and fighting oh yeah and I'm facing heart surgery in eight days yet here I am full of joy Joyful Joyful Lord we adore thee I can tell you this that when my life takes a turn I have had to develop new skills life skills that I didn't have before like appreciating the smallest of joys by using positive selft talk because God knows that there's enough people in this world willing to tear me down that I refuse to be one of them any longer and I have surrounded myself with a community of people who

love and support me when I am too weak to stand on my own persevering through your darkest of days is never easy but my wish for you is that you will choose to live joyously within that Tempest of adversity that we call life because the Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow bet your bottom all of that tomorrow there'll be Joy so next time when life hits that big old suckk button make that choice choose to live joyously

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.