Zero To Hero – Sarah (The Wonder-Woman)

We have seen stories of zero to a hero, from 3 heroes previously. This time it is a story from a “heroin”, a Wonder-Woman named Sarah(not her first name), who fought her way through life to where she is now, success. Awesome eh, now let’s look at her interesting journey.

*She does not want to reveal her identity for personal reasons hence there is no photo of her but I believe her story will inspire you to do better in life & most contents were done by her*

She was born with a deformity of the left arm. It’s a congenital birth defect where her left arm stops just below her elbow. Her parents did not know she had such a defect till the day she was born.

P.S. Just for your knowledge, in the late 70s ultrasound was not yet a familiar thing.

She remembers the early years, not seeing anyone else with the same disability, made her believe she was the only one in the world with such. In fact, she hardly saw anyone with a disability at all! Until one day, walking to the playground with her grandmother, she saw a lady who had exactly the same looking arm! she was like ‘Nooooooo!!!!” she was shocked because all this time, she thought she was the only one on the planet! The feeling of  ‘The Chosen One’ slowly evaporated as her world came crashing down. At that time, she was only four years of age.

Primary school

Primary school was a real learning curve for her. She was the only disabled or different looking student in the whole school. Nobody wanted to befriend her and when she tried, they would run away. She ended up very alone. Unfortunately, there were a group of girls who bullied her terribly. They would throw her books in the bin or tear them up. They would punch or pinch her whenever they felt like it, hurl abuses, calling her insulting names that would put her down. Life in her primary school in those years was a living nightmare. She would run and hide during recess so she couldn’t be found. Inside, she was slowly growing stronger and more resilient. She never told anyone at home about the bullying.

Secondary school

Eventually, she blossomed in secondary school. Something in her snapped and she had enough. The next person in secondary school that called her a rude name got a real punch. Woah!! She felt like incredible hulk! That was it.

That was the last time anyone tried to bully her. From then on, her reputation changed after she stood up for herself. It was time to grow as a person. No more hiding. She came to terms with her disability in secondary school as she accepted herself for who she was.

She became a popular kid in school, a big change from the introvert she was in primary school. She took part in drama and played lead roles to being the school’s resident emcee. She was selected to be class prefect and led the school every morning in the pledge and anthem songs. She excelled in her own right, winning many sporting events and running became her thing. She became known as ‘Sarah the Runner’ instead of the one arm girl. She won best in English every year of her secondary school life. All of this was a far cry of her former self. She slowly built her confidence and her real personality started to shine.

Working life

The next chapter, her working life. She had to tell at interviews about her disability because no one noticed. Some would decline her straightaway assuming she was incapable when in fact it was quite the opposite. She eventually worked in a hard core male dominated oil and gas industry. People would assume and judge, some treated her evidently different but they were more threatened than anything else.

One of them told her it was because they thought with her disability, she would be the weak link but instead, they never expected her to be able to do the things she did. She even types with one hand faster than most for example! She stood her ground and earned her place. She was given a chance to show what she could do. With her language skills and capabilities, she was quickly promoted.

Interview

two oil pumps silhouette

Purpose of her life

After about six years in the oil and gas, she took a huge pay cut and went to pursue her teaching career. She is still teaching until today. She found her calling and the job enables her to be a silent motivator to her students who tells her in notes and letters. As they look up to her, she openly shares the challenges she faces. Being real was important to her as she didn’t only want to educate them with books but equip them with life skills. She wants them to grow and be responsible, constructive human beings. In the teaching years, she took her scuba diving license and her driving license. It was a challenge that she constantly shares with her class daily.

Despite a major incident she faced in her teen life, she showed her students you don’t quit just because things get hard but you adapt and change. She has always been a person who likes to accomplish things. People think that because she has one arm, she needs to make up for it, but no. It’s only because she never wanted her life to be boring and mundane.

She said, “If you know what you can do and capable of doing so much more, why not?”.

She was even on television for being an inspiration! Something she never knew she was. She just did the things she did because it was a part of her, always trying. She even had a hand at riding a motorbike, traveling the world, mostly herself, which had changed her mind set. She travelled and explored at every opportunity she got. These stories and the lesson learnt from the trips are used to share with her students. A lady who is happy to be able to inspire her students and many others who are willing to. What an awesome lady!!

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Do share with us your stories of challenges to success in any situation (with pics if possible) in livetobelieve4success@gmail.com, I will do a blog about it. Your story will encourage and motivate others to achieve success too!

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