At birth, I got stuck, and the doctors had to use brut force to get me free, causing severe damage to the brachial nerves in my right arm, leaving me without the use of my arm. While a seemingly impossible challenge at first, my journey taught me valuable lessons about the power of resilience and adaptability. It has been through countless failures and moments of discovery that I have sculpted and refined my most vital organ—my mind. Today, I am proud to say that I not only can do most things with one hand, but I also have a career in the design industry which allows me to share my methods while working on designing a better world for everyone.
My ability to overcome physical obstacles began with reshaping my understanding of what it means to fail. As a young boy growing up in an environment where success is often seen as the only option (the 80s and 90s), it took time for me to realize that failure is essential for growth. Once I accepted this concept and allowed myself room for mistakes, it became easier to take risks and try new ideas without fear of judgment from others or myself.
In addition to learning how to embrace failure as part of life’s journey, another valuable lesson was realizing there is no one perfect way of doing things. Instead of using a single blueprint for tackling a task or problem, being adaptive has allowed me to continually find better ways of doing things as well as create innovative solutions when faced with obstacles in everyday life or work-related challenges.
The ability to think outside the box eventually led me down the path of graphic design and UX & UI design, which combines both creative problem-solving and technical knowledge in order to craft beautiful user experiences. This profession allows me to draw upon the lessons learned throughout my journey while still maintaining an open mind towards discovering new techniques whenever possible in order to make sure that users have access to an intuitive interface with all their needs met.
No matter your background or experience level, everyone has something they can learn from overcoming an obstacle—whether it be physical or mental—in their lives. Through trial and error (and sometimes even more error), we are able to gain invaluable insights into our abilities, such as resilience, creativity, and adaptability, which can help us reach our full potential both professionally and personally. That being said, don’t be afraid to take risks or step out of your comfort zone because you never know what amazing things may come from it!