In the gym, usually when I’m doing pull-ups or dips, people come up to me to give praise. Stuff like “you’re inspiring and motivating!”
It’s nice. I take the compliment but it doesn’t make me feel any different. I don’t feel better about myself or anything like that, mainly because I’m grounded in the sense that I’m fully aware of myself and compliments don’t change how I view the reality of myself. If anything, it would take a wild, unconventional compliment to make me think of myself differently in a better way.
Everyday, I live and experience life as myself. To me, I’ve always been me and always will be. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no difference between Cosmo before he got injured and Cosmo after. There are differences in the sense that I developed personally and professionally in nearly all aspects, but I’ve still been me throughout all of it.
Why was I not inspiring and motivating when I was in the gym before my injury? I’m doing the same thing.
Wheelchair DNA 
I couldn’t have said it any better! What makes me any more inspiring now versus before my injury is beyond me, I’m still the same person that I was back then. The fact that I choose to go out with family or friends to the grocery store, a restaurant, or anywhere else versus staying at home the rest of my life shouldn’t be inspiring or motivational. I’m also polite about the compliments or questions I get, but sometimes I wish I wouldn’t attract so much extra attention and just be left alone when I’m out with my family and friends…
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