 My lovely beautiful talented delightful internet friends welcome back to my channel. Thank you so much for joining me here today Here's the situation. I have a video. I want to do I was getting set up upstairs to film it and I realized I can't be home I can't be home any longer, so I'm not gonna I'm gonna safely go on an adventure with you. Let's do it I Will look around before I start filming because I feel like such a weirdo just talking to myself Welcome to black forest Colorado. This is the area in which I grew up and today We're gonna talk a little bit about some of the best things about being It's not starting off well, but what I was previously attempting to say was I'm gonna talk today about some of the absolute best things about being an amputee Sitting down is a little bit more challenging. I'll be honest I've talked a lot on this channel about the ups and the downs right like the lows and the highs the setbacks the surgeries The awesome leaps forward like the first time I've been able to do things and and I wanted to take some time today to talk About some of the unexpected best things about being an amputee Oftentimes I'll get this question and I always have an answer for it, right? Because there's always something but at the same time sitting down to think about what are honestly some of the Positives that have come out of this situation and I don't want to hold any pretense here This is not something that I would have chosen and that might sound silly Considering the fact that I did literally choose it But the reason that I had to have my leg amputated is because I was in so much pain I couldn't do anything There's no way that I could have comfortably gone for this little hike that I just went on my ankle would have gotten Tweaked I would have been popping painkillers. I it wasn't a good situation It's not ever something I would have chosen something I'd like to eventually be able to say that I'm not yet at the point of saying is I wouldn't have it any other way, right? And I'm not there. I'm not sure if I ever will get there I'm learning to live with that and thrive with that the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the absolute best thing About being an amputee is the fact that if I'm walking in the woods and there is a snake and it bites my ankle I am 50% less likely to be actively affected by that now Why would this be the first thing that comes to mind you may wonder well I really don't like snakes like I hold active animosity and same thing goes for gators I was in South Carolina. There were a number of alligators chilling around and if one bit me grabbed a hold of my leg Was trying to drag me away. I could in theory pop that sucker off Let him have my leg and keep the rest of my body I think we can all agree that is strategically speaking definitely the best part of this But on a more serious note being an amputee being someone who physically has something that looks different about them has opened up So many conversations I almost feel like people think that I'm a little bit more interesting or more interested to talk to me or start a Conversation because I'm missing a leg because there's something visibly about me That's not quite the same as them the launching board as a point of interest in a large part. I see this channel that way I would never have had the audience I would never been able to speak to you probably you right now listening if it hadn't been for this if it hadn't been for Some of the videos that I've done about losing my leg and about going through this process The reality is that I'm no more interesting because I'm missing a leg right like I'm no more or less of a person I know more or less interesting of a person. I'm still just Joe But I think going through this transition and going through this change has given me a platform and given me People to talk to and conversations to have and advocacy and education and self-growth that I never ever would have had There's a plane going right overhead. It's taking it sweet time I'm gonna keep talking and hope that the plane doesn't like overshadow my audio. Oh wait, it's right there We should be good. I've gotten to meet some really really awesome people I'm thinking of this right now because I'm sitting in a forest talking to a camera and his videos are pretty similar to this a Friend of mine Chris Oliver who lives in South Africa who I never would have known or met I got to meet because we're both amputees because we both have YouTube channels. I've been asked to audition for things Some pretty significant things. I'm not an actress. Let's make that really clear I will be doing a video about that whole situation when I am allowed to because of the whole release of things So yes, this is a bit of a tried answer, but I would also say that having handicap parking is pretty fantastic I want to make it really clear that I never abuse this like if I'm having a day where my leg is perfectly fine I'm not in any pain. I'm not tired or exhausted or anything like that and I can walk I will walk the extra steps in a crowded parking lot But for the days when the parking lot is just packed out and my leg doesn't feel awesome I can use that handicap placard I can get closer parking at the movie theater if I need it that day and to be honest that is pretty great I mean, it's basically worth the whole thing. It's basically worth trapping my leg off right there As cliche as this might sound having significant difference with a part of my body has taught me to treat my body a lot less Like an object and a lot less like something to be punished for not being the way I want it to be and a lot more Like something that enables me to live my life. I've talked about this before but as I think pretty much everyone has I've really struggled with body image. I struggled with an eating disorder growing up And so my body and I have always had a weird relationship I've also experienced trauma upon me upon my physical body and it's easy to Disconnect and distance yourself from your body when that's the case Losing my leg and having to work with my body to get to the point where I can walk to get the point where I can do Anything that I want to do to massage it to help with a soreness to really get hands on Has helped me start to accept myself more fully exactly as I am that has come with challenges That has come with some insecurities But those are being worked through and at the end of the day I see my body as something that is a gift instead of something to be battled against Another thing is that I'm able to have conversations and hopefully help educate people about something that I think needs less of a stigma I haven't experienced a lot of discrimination because I'm an amputee. I'll be completely honest I haven't experienced a lot of bullying or anything like that And I know that a lot of people have to deal with that kind of stuff, especially growing up I have a TikTok page. TikTok is a social media app Generally speaking the audience is a little bit younger and I love being able to post funny Educational stuff or just me doing stuff kind of content because a lot of the people seeing that are people under the age of 21 Under the age of 18 people going through incredible life changes dealing with really difficult stuff growing up is not easy I wouldn't wish middle school on my worst enemy and to be able to show those people that I'm a person with different interests And I can do things and here's how I adjust to this and here's how I adjust to that and there is yet another plane Disability is something that I myself have some weird feelings about I have during the course of my life I may have thought that it made people different or weird or you know outside of me I think that those are natural feelings to have unless you've confronted them unless you've looked at them unless you've known People who are dealing with something different some difference or some disability and realize that they are still whole Beautiful interesting human beings just as you are it might look different But you and I could have a cup of coffee and talk about anything and probably realize that we've a lot more similarities and differences Right. I love being able to talk to kids and show them my robot leg Usually the reaction so far that I've gotten especially like from friends kids or meeting kids is fear at first They're really not sure about it They're like oh whoa something's different and then being able to have a conversation be like yeah It's my robot leg and this does this and if you push this button it lets air out So you don't want to do that too too often and be a person in their life who looks different than maybe most people in their life But is also a loving caring presence and just happens to be missing a leg I do think helps break down walls and break down stigma and answer questions and bring a face to something that someone might have been Uncomfortable with had they never had those conversations growing up I definitely don't think that I was required to go through amputation to learn things about myself But I certainly have I've certainly learned more about what matters to me and what doesn't and who I want to be and What I'm doing here patients is a quality that I thought I had before But definitely gets tested when you're going through prosthetic fittings and your leg failing and not working right and More surgeries and and all of that and trying to keep a clear head Which I have not always accomplished but at least trying to keep a good perspective on the situation knowing that what I'm dealing with is Temporary it's okay to feel the emotions that I'm feeling if I'm frustrated or mad or sad or grieving But knowing that it's not gonna last forever and that I can wait You know I can hold out Patience is definitely a quality that I've been giving a lot of opportunities to nurture and I am grateful for that slow development One of the biggest positives for me personally is the fact that I can do stuff like this again I can pick up my camera gear put it in a backpack and just go for a hike somewhere just go for a walk I have personally experienced that a lot of people don't quite understand that sometimes Being without a body part that wasn't serving you well is better than holding on to that Just for the sake of keeping that part of your body now if that's what someone chooses to do that's great for them And honestly obviously there's no judgment, but for me. I wanted to be able to be active I wanted to be able to do things I wanted to live in less pain And this was the best way to do that at the time in the place that I was at and it's taken a long time But it's finally started to pay off I'm really grateful that being able to make this choice has brought a lot more of the things that Bring me joy back into my life. It's not an easy journey. I never want to sugarcoat it I've really tried to be intentional about showing the ups and the downs here on footless Joe because I feel like At least in circles that I've seen or people I've spoken to there's often a lot more outward positivity and a lot less talking about The real struggles and the reality is that life is both right like they're really good things and they're really bad things And it's different for everybody, but for me Yeah, this has been a struggle But yeah, there have been some incredible things that have come up for me along the way And I expect to continue finding some of the best things about being an amputee, but those are the the top five I think it's five I'm gonna title it five because five sounds good But I may have said more than five things that are pretty cool about being an amputee Thank you to my patrons for making these videos possible for continuing to support this channel It really truly means the world to me And I am so grateful for each and every one of you if patreon is something that you're interested in It is a platform where you can basically support the creators that you care about that you appreciate their content I do have a page up We have an awesome community over there and there are a number of perks that you might get in return for signing up So check it out on screen or down below if you feel like it, but to you watching this video right now Thank you so much for spending a few minutes out of your day here with me today You could be anywhere in the world doing absolutely anything and you chose to hang out with me in Black Forest with the sun in my eyes Oh gotta move a little bit for a few minutes today and that means the world to me So thank you. I love you guys. I'm thinking about you and I'll see you in the next video. Bye guys