One morning in the spring of 2006…

I woke up and had a speech scheduled for that day.

I always start my speech with this line: “My name is Sourena Vasseghi and I love my life.” That morning, while lying in bed, I felt like crap. It was one of those mornings where I wake up and people around me were scared to talk. I’m sure you have had mornings like that. I was going through my first break-up ever, and it sucked. I always try to be authentic and hate being a hypocrite. How was I supposed to utter the words “I love my life” when I was feeling so down that morning? My mentor, Frank Miles, was even going to be there. I thought of canceling my speech—but I didn’t. I got ready, put on my suit and tie, and went. As I got closer to my event, I began to feel the adrenaline and after I was introduced, I said my first line.

“My name is Sourena Vasseghi, and I love my life.”

For the first time that day, I actually was in love with my life.

There are parts of our days we don’t love. We might even hate them–The traffic in the morning, the boss we’re afraid to approach, or just our own internal battles. As a physically disabled person, there is stuff that I hate every day, like the fact that I can’t take a five minute shower or the fact that when i was craving donuts last week and I couldn’t jump in my car and go get some. It’s in these moments when I doubt my love of life. Then I hang out with friends, write something really cool, or make people laugh; it’s in those moments when I say to myself that I really love my life.

My definition of loving life is not some ethereal notion of going through life and not letting anything bother you. It’s being in love with the possibilities of what you can accomplish. More importantly, it’s making a contract with yourself–and no one else–to find that sweet spot in life. I’m happy to report that now my life is finally loving me back after many, many days of doubt, questions, and struggles.

I know that times are tough, but the possibilities are endless.

Timelapse - Lighthouse (Oct 2012) from IMK Digital Multimedia on Vimeo.