My name is Edirin Edewor.
I was 25 years old when I was diagnosed with Early Onset Rheumatoid Arthritis. 25 year old!!
Very quickly, an all-too-familiar feeling came walking by.
It was sadness.
It was cold shivers.
It was fear.
It was darkness.
It was resignation.
It was depression.
For weeks, I lay in bed, soaking my pillow in silent tears.
I wondered who I offended.
I wondered what sins I committed to deserve this.
Was there no breathing space?
No respite?
No extended moments of sunshine?
Why always me?
In the secret place of my bedroom, I would ask all these questions and the answers eluded me.
It wasn’t until I decided to kick depression out of my life a second time, that I truly began to understand what it all meant.
I remembered a similar story of a certain ancient man named Paul, a devout man of God, who was also struck with affliction and prayed 3 times for it to go away. It was on the third time that God answered and said, “My grace is sufficient for you”.
This man named Paul, went on to become arguably the greatest Apostle of all time. There was no mention of him getting healed, but that didn’t stop him. Heck, his shadow healed people, but he lived with affliction.
It was when I began to adopt a lifestyle of gratitude for what I was going through, that I found purpose. His grace is truly sufficient.
That same year, I wrote my first book that became an Amazon bestseller, found a new path to helping and inspiring people, wrote and published more books, got called to speak on international platforms and in other countries, and created the life that I now enjoy today.
There are still days when I can’t stand up from my bed. There are still days when I cannot pick up my phone or hold a spoon. There are days when I cannot pick up a pen or type on my computer. There are the side effects of the tons of drugs I had to take every single day for a whole year, which have caused short term memory loss.
The truth of it all is that, if you don’t know my story, you can never tell from my face, what I go through. This is because I have refused to let it define me. I have refused to let it stop me from becoming all I know I can become. I have refused to call a pity party and feel sorry for myself.
I live everyday with renewed life and vigor. I laugh and I smile and I dance and I play. I am 5”4 and a petite size 2, but still I am stronger than a lot of my mates. Heck, I could squat 70KG weights haha.
This is not to incite awe and shock or pity. This is not to impress you, but to impress upon you, that if I can do all I have done, you can too. Excuses are just your fear talking BS. Silence that voice in your head that says you cannot because of XYZ and decide today to do something that your future self will thank you for.
This is my story. What’s yo
