Dealing with the Circumstances You've Been Dealt

Everyone's life is different. Yours is different from mine and mine is different from the family next door's even if the situation may seem similar. Everyone is different and has different things on his or her plate, and things in your life have to be dealt with when you are making changes. As Steve would say, "It is...what it is." You can make changes, which may change the circumstance a little, but it won't alter the circumstance materially. By this I mean that if your elderly father is living with you and he is a hoarder, you may be able to change the way the house looks and you may even learn to keep it clean, but in his heart, dad will still be a hoarder.

The rate of autism in America is now at roughly 1 in every 91 children (according to the American Academy of Pediatrics). This means that many, many families today have a child with autism. If your child has autism in any of its forms, this is a circumstance you will have to deal with. It is what you've been dealt, and the hand you have to play. Thus your approach to changing your life and reorganizing your household will simply have to accommodate that factor. Whether you have diabetes, your child has autism, or your cousin with triplets moves in, you'll have circumstances that you cannot change. The trick is to learn to work with them, to the extent possible.

This is a picture of my daughter, Angel. Angel has a remarkable view of the world. Angel has autism, and most of the time people don't realize it when they meet her. Every so often, though, something happens that brings Steve and I up cold and makes us remember, hey, this is something we just have to deal with or accommodate. There will be things in your life like that too. What are they? Make a list. It's a good step towards clarifying your needs.