Therapy Bits

Maggie and Lauren alternate as hosts for the Throwback Thursday memories.
This week it’s Maggie’s turn to set the theme, which is independence.
You can check it out and join in here!
Throwback Thursday #9 Independence (wordpress.com)

She says

Learning to be independent is a critical step in adolescent development. Some people ease into it a step at a time, and others plunge in all at once. When did you start to feel independent? Maybe it was when you finally had your own bedroom, or perhaps the first time your parents let you stay home alone. Or maybe the first time you slept over outside your own home. Money can signify independence. What was your first job? Maybe independence was transportation a new bike, your drivers license, a new car or your first trip on an airplane. Or maybe, it was when you moved away from home maybe into a college dorm, or an apartment of your own or maybe it was moving in with a significant other and sharing space outside your parents home. Or maybe it was something else entirely. What milestones signified your search for independence?
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I remember the first time I felt independent. Being blind my mom was very overprotective of me, but in saying that, she always let me do the things other kids my age were doing, whether that was rollerblading, riding a bike, etc.

The first time I really felt independent was when she let me go to a local sweet shop with my best friend. We had some money and we wanted to buy sweets with it. She let us go 5 minutes to the local shop. I later found out that when we were gone she went out in her back yard and looked up over the wall to make sure we were ok. I still laugh at that.

I shared a room with my sister for a while, my sister is 9 years my junior, eventually when I was 15 I got my own bedroom, that made me feel so independent, my own room, my own space.

I moved out of home when I was 26. I moved into an apartment, mom did not want me to move out, but she didn’t stop me. She knew I wanted to find my own way in life, so I moved out, and while I struggled at first, I soon got used to it.

I have traveled to the USA on my own on numerous occasions. I first visited a friend I’d met online in 2005. I went to chicago. My mom was petrified but she did not stop me from going. I got on fine, and had a ball. It was amazing. I couldnt actually believe my dream of visiting the US was coming through. Since then I’ve been to the USA multiple times on my own. Traveling alone as a blind person is a little daunting, but I am so glad I can do it.