I'm 21 years old (wow, I'm old) and for most of those early years of my thus-far short life the words "can't" and "won't" played a big role in a way you might not think. I was told by my parents that I coulddo anything I wanted in life if I put the work in or that I wouldaccomplish whatever I set my mind to. The familiar words "can't" and "won't" actually seeped from the mouths of medical professionals I saw in my early years.

I'm completely comfortable now talking about my stroke and sharing my experiences with how that affected my life, but one thing I rarely touch on in the narrative is how early in my life my doctors often were unsure about how my life would unfold or what abilities I would have or not. My early childhood was heavy on trips to all sorts of specialists to find this question out and more often than not, my parents and little me were faced with those two words. For example, "She won't walk"or "She can't roll over."

As I grew up and outgrew all the visits to specialists who doubted I would ever make something of myself I began to take that doubt into myself. By the time I hit early high school I was in a dark place emotionally and I'm not afraid to admit that. I hated how my body looked and I hated it so much that I wasn't even motivated to change it because I knew deep down nothing I did would change what I hated about myself because I was born with it.

I kept telling myself I "won't" be as pretty as the other girls at my school who seemed to rotate boyfriends weekly and that I "can't" have that because what high school guy would want to date a girl with baggage like mine? Looking back, I realize how petty those things seem in the grand scheme of my life and as I entered the final two years of high school I formed a mentality I still have.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt once said: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." And she's right, even if that person making you feel inferior is you.

I was going to stop giving myself permission to put myself down. I was going to scratch out the words "can't" and "won't" from my vernacular. With that, I was going to accept and love the way I am and live my life boldly. Almost four years later I'm much happier in myself and I credit that mostly to looking at myself one-day junior year of high school a thinking "I'm tired of hating myself."

I hate cliché’s, I'll be the first to tell you. I know there are some things I realistically won't be able to do in my life and that's okay. I think author Norman Vincent Peale said it best: "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."