Daniel Goodman

Transcript

there's a common piece of wisdom from experienced swimmers that says when facing a strong current don't try to fight it let go embrace it is a waste of time and energy but consider this one of the most valuable fish in the animal kingdom is the salmon the salmon is valuable not just because Bears find them so tasty the salmon is valuable because of the journey it has to take Upstream to be successful a salmon has to swim against the current and fight off natural obstacles like rocks and branches and bears to reproduce and flourish life is filled with many of these currents and obstacles getting

fired from a job the end of a relationship the death of a loved one for me one of those bigger challenges came early on in life right when I was born which was actually three months earlier than expected you see my twin brother and I were diagnosed with something called cerebral palsy a neurological disability with an unpredictable and unforgiving Spectrum controlling how certain muscles talk to the brain we were both so small we could each fit inside the palm of our father's hands our tiny fingers barely wrapped around the massive trunk of his thumbs our lungs weren't large enough yet to produce the optimal amount

of oxygen for our brains and for several months machines literally kept us alive and you know what the doctor said he said it's not about size it's about how you use it no I'm joking he didn't actually say that he said to my parents things don't look very good he told my parents that we'd probably have a lot of difficulties growing up we'd probably never be able to walk we definitely wouldn't be star athletes we might not even be able to speak we might not amount to a lot at the time it was just too early to tell the story of Our Lives had become

one giant question mark as a writer I'm fascinated by storytelling and how it can transform reality to me the most interesting stories are the ones at the intersection between realization and contradiction as a disabled man occupying a perspective benefiting from white privilege I've lived at that crossroads my entire life beliefs are tiny Stories We Carry inside ourselves like the salmon we swim in their currents they can either resist us or Propel us forward they can Empower us with clarity and expand our purpose or they can Cloud us with judgment and limit us with doubt and fear your beliefs literally shape your reality we are all

the stories that we choose to tell ourselves the point is you all of you get to decide what your story means we are the cumulative effect of all the things that we choose to believe what you believe about yourself is the space that you make for your own potential all my life I've challenged the beliefs of those around me of doctors and medical professionals of my community of strangers of myself and through every tide I've come to learn one constant lesson that helps me float Within These waves having a disability is not a limitation it is a magnifying glass drawing insight to the powers and

limitations of everyone's constructed story it is a single story but it is not your only story be careful which ones you listen to if my parents listen to the doctor on the day we were born they might never have put us into therapy into therapy and believe something more if I'd listened to my coach in elementary school I might never have bothered to try out for the basketball team and shot some hoops for a whole quarter if I listen to my inner critic in those months of healing after a string of surgeries from when I was a teenager drifting on morphine and feeling sorry for

myself if I'd listened to the prescription of beliefs that Society shopping and social media had handed to me over the years I might have believed that I am lacking that I am helpless that I am weak that I am too short for an adult too emotional for a man too volatile for those to accept me and love me that I am my disability and only that that I am not good enough but if I had listened to those stories then I would never have started becoming the person I am learning to love today an artist a friend a fighter a dreamer a warrior a survivor

I gave myself permission to feel to fail and to find so all of this to say pardon my French but your beliefs choose which ones will help you swim and let go of the ones that sink you be the salmon swim upstream thank you

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