Yeah, I'm 21 and use a walking stick. So what?

Yeah, I'm 21 and use a walking stick. So what?


When you think of the usual person that uses a walking stick on a daily bases, I don't think that a 21-year-old university student who dresses in vintage style clothing is the first image that comes to mind.

But it doesn't have to be, because I have in fact put that image just below for you.




Here's the thing, for me, using a walking stick is part of my daily life,

You see, I'm currently in the process of being diagnosed with fibromyalgia (in fact as I write this, I'm just over a week away from going to a rheumatology appointment to have some tests done to hopefully get a definitive diagnosis so I finally know what's going on) and my god do I have a lot of pain.

My pain is all over my body but the number of intense pain points I have in my body is, in my opinion, stupid. Let's go through the list shall we:

-neck
-spine
-right shoulder joint
-left wrist (thank god I'm right-handed)
-lower back
-both hips
-the entirety of my legs

And on top of all that pain, I also find myself falling asleep all the time (even standing up when in a store once), my cognitive thinking will go to s**t (I will sometimes forget my own name and even forget how clothes work leaving me standing there wondering how to get these things off and the new things on), many other symptoms and in general I don't have too great of a time.

Now, I've had a number of completely random strangers asking me the question "what have you gone and done to yourself?" and when I reply that I haven't exactly done anything but I am in fact ill, my oh my does their attitude change. 

Depending on the type of person they are, the response to thins can be different. Most of the time I get told that they hope things get better for me, which I really do appreciate, but sometimes I get some unconventional replies. 

Unconventional reply 1: "Are you sure you're ill? You may just be lazy". "Of course, that's it. I must just be lazy" I say as I fling my walking stick to the side and do cartwheels all the way home. (In case you didn't get it, that was sarcasm).

No, I'm pretty sure that I between the pain, the fatigue, the cognitive problems, the constant doctor's appointments and the huge amount of medication I'm on that I'm ill. 

Now I can see why sometimes people think I'm not too bad but seeing as my illness is episodic (bad sometimes and okay sometimes, depending on the day, time and many other variables) and I've had a sudden flare up at university once and ended up having to put a bandage on my wrist to stop twitching, putting my legs up on a chair and using my coat as a blanket. it's safe to say that I'm not lazy, but I'm ill. 



Unconventional reply 2: "so what exactly are you going to do with your life? You can't exactly work can you?"

Actually, not entirely true. I can do anything else the rest of the world can do. I just like to think that I take the scenic route rather than the direct route.

Now yes, I  have a few career paths cut off to me, but luckily I was never planning on becoming a gymnast. I think that would have been a little hard without being ill anyway on account of being a rather large person that stands at 5"10.

But if you really want to confuse people, you just have to show people a picture of you in full chefs uniform while using a walking stick to hold yourself up. (Look down to be confused).


Thanks to my mate Bethan for helping me awkwardly take this picture in the corridor of our university.
You can find her on Instagram here 

Thank you to Bethan for helping to get this picture, which was taken in the corridor of our university and was not awkward or weird to take at all...You can find her on Instagram here

But despite all the confusion people may have, just because I have a few mobilities issues doesn't mean that my passion for food development has disappeared. My course is probably around 50/50 of sit down lectures and kitchen work because when developing brand new recipes and making low sugar products, you have to make sure that the food can actually be made.

So that means making my way into the kitchens, walking stick in hand. My class were even a little confused in the first place 

So when I get asked what am I going to do with my life seeing as I can't really work, I truly love to see the look on peoples faces when I tell them that I'm in fact learning how to be a food developer and innovator at university and that I actually do a large amount of work in the kitchens.

I mean, I do have a lot of things put into place for me to help me such as a high chair so I can do some work sitting down and having a part of the kitchen just for me to work in so that I don't trip anyone up with my stick.

But we don't have to tell them that...do we? 


At the end of the day, yeah, I'm 21 and I use a walking stick. I'd rather people see the walking stick as a part of me, not as the defining part of my personality. And I would rather have everyone see what I can do, not what I can't do which really, at the end of the day, isn't a lot.

My advice, try and see the young person behind the walking stick and then remind yourself: "so they're a young person using a walking stick, so what?"

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