Something happened
tonight.
I realised that my
joy genuinely drives our family joy. When I am focussed and charged
my energy seeps through everyone in my family. (My mum starts being
complementary and butt-kissing so I know it must be there!)
For the past 5/6
weeks I have been obsessed with the idea of moving to another country
within the next two years. This means that I have been binge learning
Spanish, and trying to understand proofreading and transcription
work, and I have taken (and passed with Distinction), an online
TESOL course.
Being Autistic means
I am capable of hyper-focus. Hyper-focus is in fact, my preferred state
of being. I am learning so much that I can breeze through every other
aspect of life. It's like my mind is so focussed on something positive, that
everything else becomes very organised and almost military in its
flow.
When I am truly
inspired to do something I cannot help but focus on it. In this I am
blessed.
So, over the past
5-ish weeks, I have taken great leaps towards achieving what I want
for my family. The freedom to live anywhere we choose.
I have found many
good online courses, for reasonable amounts of money, being delivered
by people just like me! People who just gave their dream a real
chance! I have found endless opportunities for work if I should
choose to accept them. Proofreading, copy editing, captioning and
transcription jobs are abundant! ESL teachers are in huge demand. The
future is on the internet, which will lead onto the main point of
this blog in a minute, but a quick aside.
(For a few years now
I have despaired at ever being able to realise some of my own dreams.
Now that is changing. Everything is aligned so that I can finally
take another forward step.)
In my endless
research into jobs, countries and lifestyles, I came across a job
opportunity with a very famous game making company! It was not a job
suited to my talents at all...but it was perfect for my oldest son. I
sent him the link and he immediately came to me with ideas which I
then submitted. He is buzzing with positive energy. He realised that
he has a true talent in writing.
He can
caption/vine/meme as if he were born to do it!
As he just said to
me, ‘I’m overqualified for the internet!’ And he’s right! He
has been information hungry since he came Earthside (and a fair bit
before that too, to be fair) and his love of learning has been
thoroughly sated by having access to the internet since he was very
young. He was around 2 when he continually tried to break into our
password protected pc (repeatedly and very often, ie every two
minutes until someone caught him) so we had to show him how to use it
or else we would not have had a pc anymore!
Dominik is
the internet. He does not watch tv shows very much at all but he does
read/play/investigate/learn, pretty much all day long. The internet
is his environment. He understands it and moves in it
as if he is a part of it.
Dominik is truly a
child of the internet. He is discerning, open minded,
generous, anarchistic, accepting, knowledgeable, witty and
intelligent.
Writing comes so
naturally to someone like Dominik who has done nothing but read since
he taught himself at 3 years old by reading Thomas the Tank Engine
by Rev. W Audrey (the original books not the new, simpler, modern
versions).
Reading and English
are his talents. I have always known this.
I am so grateful
that I trusted him to know what was best for himself even when my
entire being screamed, ‘nooooooooooooooooo’! Adn to be honest,
still does on a regular basis.
Tonight I was
overwhelmed with pride and confusion when once again unschooling/self
directed learning triumphed over what can be an utterly paralysing
condition.
I find myself trying
to imagine what Domink would think of English and reading and IT, if
he had been forced to read, write and learn what OTHERS thought he
should for the majority of his time! It makes me feel so sad to think
about it.
Dominik has been
taking some online spelling/grammar/punctuation/typing, tests and he
is finding them incredibly easy.
He is taking these
with enthusiasm...a PDA child voluntary testing themselves. Who’d
have thought it?! Well, anyone who has a working knowledge of PDA
children and adults would definitely know this! When motivated to do
something not much will get in their way so long as they are
supported and nurtured through the process.
I guess my point is
that, it takes huge leaps of faith to achieve the life you dream of
but they are worth it. Do the work and pay attention to what gets you
further along your path and the goal becomes less important. The path
is what matters...it paves the way for the dreams.
Start leaping!
N x
PS - Harriet has also said she'd like to give going to nursery another try...so here we go!
