Thursday 3 January 2013

The Most Inspirational Story of 2012


From an email received yesterday -

When she was in high school, Lizzie Velasquez was dubbed "The World's Ugliest Woman" in an 8-second-long YouTube video. Born with a medical condition so rare that just two other people in the world are thought to have it, Velasquez has no adipose tissue and cannot create muscle, store energy, or gain weight. She has zero percent body fat and weighs just 60 pounds.
 
In the comments on YouTube, viewers called her "it" and "monster" and encouraged her to kill herself. Instead, Velasquez set four goals: To become a motivational speaker, to publish a book, to graduate college, and to build a family and a career for herself.
 
Now 23 years old, she's been a motivational speaker for seven years and has given more than 200 workshops on embracing uniqueness, dealing with bullies, and overcoming obstacles. She's a senior majoring in Communications at Texas State University in San Marcos, where she lives with her best friend. Her first book, "Lizzie Beautiful," came out in 2010 winning the hearts of many around the world and her second, "Be Beautiful, Be You," was published earlier September and In 2013 she's hoping to write her third book.
 
"The stares are what I'm really dealing with in public right now," she told Dr. Drew Pinsky in an interview on CNN's Headline News. But I think I'm getting to the point where... instead of sitting by and watching people judge me, I'm starting to want to go up to these people and introduce myself or give them my card and say, 'Hi, I'm Lizzie. Maybe you should stop staring and start learning'."
 
Velasquez was born in San Antonio, Texas; she was four weeks premature and weighed just 2 pounds, 10 ounces. "They told us they had no idea how she could have survived," her mother, Rita, 45, told the Daily Mail. "We had to buy doll's clothes from the toy store because baby clothes were too big." Doctors warned Rita and her husband, Lupe, that their oldest child would never be able to walk or talk, let alone live a normal life. (Her two younger siblings were not affected by the syndrome.)
 
Instead, she has thrived. Her internal organs, brain, and bones developed normally, though her body is tiny. Since she has no fatty tissue in which to store nutrients, she has to eat every 15 to 20 minutes to have enough energy to get through the day. One brown eye started clouding over when she was 4 years old, and now she's blind in that eye and has only limited sight in the other.


  Now why am I sharing Lizzie's story with you today?

Because it's the start of a brand new year and I know you have just set or are about to set your New Year's resolutions and I want you to be inspired to follow through with them!!!

If Lizzie can boldly go after her goals and dreams, despite her trying circumstances... what excuses do we have?

Remember that God has a purpose for everyone of us... My life purpose/calling is to touch more lives and bring more love, hope and joy to the world. Lizzie has embraced her circumstances and make it her purpose to INSPIRE everyone to boldly go after their dreams and not let anything hold them
  back.

What's yours? 

 -  Yee Shun-Jian 

10 comments:

  1. very inspiring...i've read about her before

    when is your class starting?

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    1. கமல்ஹாசனுக்கு தன் விஸ்வரூபம் படத்தை தியேட்டருக்கு முன் DTHல் வெளியிட பிரச்சனை ஏற்பட்டிருப்பது போல
      எனக்கு ஏற்படவில்லை.

      இருந்தாலும் "அருட்குரல்" பத்திரிகை ஆசிரியரிடம் என் தொடரை Blog ல் வெளியிட அனுமதி கேட்டுள்ளேன்.

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    2. ohh...maybe you can give us the link to the பத்திரிகை.. is it online?

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  2. Very inspiring..... but, most of the time, even after so many tries, it is not possible to achieve/reach the goals....etc... don't know how to over come those things...

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    Replies
    1. hey Priya... haven't you heard about King Solomon and spider story?? Try and try until you succeed :))
      btw..happy new year!! will call you this weekend

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    2. O'Priya...don't get misled by kiddo storie of spiders and all that...

      have u tried "Ping-Pong Principle" to achieve/reach your goals?

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    3. thanks for calling me a kiddo...made my day!!!...no, in fact made my year!!! :)
      ...and what's this new வேஷம் ???

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  3. Thanks Sheila & KG! Hey KG, u look good in the picture...:):)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. u must say too good. not just good :)

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