Muniba Mazari
They see my disability. I see my ability. They call me disabled. I call myself differently able. There are some incidents that happen in your life. Those incidents break you deformed, you. But they mold you into the best version of you. And the same thing happened to me. I was 18 years old when I got married.
My father wanted me to get married, and all I said was, If that makes you happy, I'll say yes. And of course, It was never a happy marriage. Just about after two years of getting married, I met a car accident. Somehow my husband fell asleep and the car fell in the ditch. He managed to jump out, saved himself.
I'm happy for him, but I stayed inside the car and I sustained a lot of injuries. List is a bit long. Don't get scared. The wrist was fractured. Shoulder bone and collar bone were fractured. My whole ribcage got. And because of the ribcage injury, lungs and liver were badly injured. I couldn't breathe. I lost u renal bowel control.
That's why I have to wear the bag wherever I go. Three vertebra off my backbone were completely crushed. And I got paralyzed for the rest of my life. I finally ended up in a hospital where I stayed for two and a half months. I underwent multiple surgeries. One day, doctor came to me and he said, Well, I heard that you wanted to be an artist, but you ended up being a housewife.
I have a bad news for you. You won't be able to paint again because your wrist and your RM are so deformed you won't be able to hold a pen again. Next day, Doctor came to me and said, Your spine injury is so bad you won't be able to walk again because of your spine injury and the fixation that you have in.
You won't be able to give birth to a child again that day I was devastated. I asked my mother, Why me? And that is where I started to question my existence, the why am I even alive? And that is where I realized that the works have the power to heal the soul. My mother said to me, This too shall pass. God has a greater plan for you.
I don't know what it is, but he surely has. And in all that distress and grief somehow or the other, those words were so magical that they kept me going. One day I ask my brothers, I know I have a deformed hand. But I'm tired of looking at these white walls in the hospital and wearing these white scrubs.
I'm getting tired of this. I want to add more colors to my life. I want to do something. Bring me some colors, bring me some small canvas I want to paint. So the very first painting I made was. On my dead bed where I painted for the very first time. It was not just an art piece or just my fashion, it was my therapy.
And then I was discharged and I went back home. And I went back home and I realized that I have developed a. A lot of pressure ulcers on my back and on my hip bone. I was unable to sit. There were a lot of infections in my body, a lot of allergies. So doctors wanted me to lie down on the bed straight for not six months, for not one year.
For two years I was bedridden. Confined in that one room, looking outside the window, listening to the birds jumping. And thinking maybe there will be a time when we'll be going out with a family and enjoying the nature. That was the time where I realized how lucky people are. That is the time where I realized.
That the day I'm going to sit, I'm going to share this pain with everyone to make them realize how blessed they are and they don't even consider them lucky. That day I decided that I'm going to fight my fears. We all have fears, fear of unknown. Fear of losing people, Fear of losing health money. We want to excel in career.
We want to become famous. We wanna get money. We are scared all the time. So I wrote down one by one all those fears. And I decided that I'm going to overcome these fears one at a time. You know what was my biggest fear? Divorce. I was trying to clinging onto this person who didn't want me anymore, but I said, no, I have to make it work.
But the day I decided that this is nothing but my fear, I liberated myself by setting him free and I made myself emotion. So strong that the day I got the news that he's getting married, I sent him a text that I'm so happy for you and I wish you all the best. And he knows that I pray for him today.
Number two was I won't be able to be a mother again. And that was quite devastating for me. But then I realized there are so many children in the world, all they want is acceptance. So there is no point of crying. Just go and adopt one. And that's what I did. People. Think that they will not be accepted by other people because we in the world of perfect people are imperfect.
So I decided that instead of starting an NGO for disability awareness, which I know will not help anyone, I started to appear more in public. I started to paint. I decided that I'm going to join the national tv. As an anchor person, and I've been doing a lot of shows for last three years. I became the National Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women Pakistan, and now I speak for the rights of women children.
We talk about inclusion, diversity, gender equality, which is a must. Every time I go in public, I always smile. It's always a big do these smile on my face and people ask me, Don't you get tired of smiling all the time? What's the secret? I always say one thing. That I have stopped worrying about the things that I have lost.
The people that I've lost things and people who are meant to be with me are with me. And sometimes somebody's absence make you a better person, cherish their absence. It's always, it's always a blessing in disguise. Live your life fully. Accept yourself the way you are. Be kind to yourself. Be kind to yourself.
I'll repeat, Be kind to yourself and only then you can be kind to others. Love yourself and spread that love. Life will be hard. There will be turmoils, there will be trials, but that will only make you strong. So when you accept yourself the way you are, the world recognizes you. It all starts from within.
Thank.
