The Independence SAFE PACE DASH

Bodybuilding might not be your thing, but how about life-building?

When Dominic was a teen he lifted weights – not because Arnold Schwarzenegger was his hero – but because he found it therapeutic.  After all, teen angst is real.  Through lifting weights (and also running), Dominic found he could literally change his internal chemistry, do a mental reset when emotionally worked up, and find peace.  But weightlifting had other benefits too – it taught goal setting, a solid methodical approach to get results, instilled a broader discipline, (gave him the strength to lift his future wife,) and just made him feel good.  But this isn’t about body building – unfortunately disciplined exercise isn’t an option with every disability.

This is about life-building, which is a universal option, and which draws many parallels.  You can muddle through life and hope for the outcomes you want, or you can attack life with purpose and discipline, overcome obstacles and achieve clear goals systematically, develop powerful capabilities, and feel good about it all.  But where do you even start – especially if you’re struggling with a disability, not feeling good about yourself, or you’re disheartened because you don’t have a track record of accomplishing your dreams?  As individuals with disabilities, we know how hard it is just to get started.  It can take hours to take care of basic needs – finding the time and energy for more takes a lot – we get it.  Let us offer you some tools to help you get the most out of your dreams.

Articulating attainable and meaningful goals and objectives can be difficult when you’re struggling with an infinite number of possibilities.  It can be like staring at a blank piece of paper and wondering what amazing things could be on it.  Some people simply find the task overwhelming. So let us inspire you and point you in the right direction.  The two-word version:

Maximized Independence

It’s the key to becoming all that you’re destined to be.  Not everyone can achieve the same level of independence, and that’s OK! But everyone can strive to obtain the maximum level of independence appropriate to them by following the Tracks of Joy Independence SAFE PACE DASH.  And this is how…

Bodybuilders repeat specific exercises over and over again in patterns to build up targeted muscle groups – these repetitions are called Reps.  Bodybuilders don’t just focus on one muscle group, or they’d end up looking like some cartoon character with a skinny body and bulging arm muscles.  They recognize that all the muscles work together as part of an overall system, and that system needs balance.

The same is true in life-building.  You exercise and develop capabilities, capabilities that all work together in intricate ways as part of an overall system, and in that system you strive for balance.  In the model we’ve designed, we set out the capabilities that you’ll need to develop for a balanced, rewarding and maximized independence (even when you have a severe disability). These capabilities are grouped into REPs in the Tracks of Joy SAFE PACE DASH:

Resources – Think SAFE (Support, Access & mobility, Financial wellbeing, Education)

Emotional wellbeing – Think PACE (Purpose & joy, Adventure, Connection, Excellence)

Physical wellbeing – Think DASH (Discipline, Action, Selfcare & nutrition, Healthcare)

Every posting in this blog will align with one of these capabilities – a discussion of what it is, why it matters, how you can build it up – or inspirational material from our own experience.  Remember that many of these capabilities are interrelated and you may need to focus on some before others – although a healthy attention to all of these lends itself to increased balance.  Use the menus at the top of the page to filter for all the content associated with any one of these capabilities and narrow your focus when you need to.

Onward to great things!