Peta is back for another season of The I Can't Stand Podcast.✨
In January of every year, many of us are looking for a fresh start. 2022 in particular many of us are looking for things to change.
This week Peta discusses one of the biggest conflicts of living with a disability for her. The balance of wanting to succeed while managing fatigue.
After the long break that Peta has had, she's still exhausted. You can even hear it in her voice.
Find out Peta's big goal for 2022 and how you can be a part of achieving it.
You can ask Peta a question for a future episode of the podcast via:
The website: www.icantstandpodcast.com
Email: icantstandpodcast@gmail.com
Instagram @petahooke
Episode transcript:
Peta [00:00:00] Hello. I'm back.
Peta [00:00:07] Hello and welcome to The I Can't Stand Podcast, the podcast answering your questions about what life is like when you have a disability. My name is Peta. I have cerebral palsy and I love to answer your questions. How have you been everyone? I've missed you. No, sincerely, I have really missed you. Full disclosure you will hear a difference in my voice when I start the episode. I have really been struggling with fatigue, and instead of ignoring it and pretending that it's not happening, I decided to talk about it. So please excuse a little bit of inconsistency in my speech in this episode. I did my absolute best. I hope you enjoy it. Without any further ado, for the first time in twenty twenty two. Let's get into it.
[00:01:20] So full disclosure, this was not the episode I had in mind when I was planning last year. But since having a break, I've had time to reflect. I want to talk about my goals for 2022. I understand that this podcast, for you just might be a passive experience, you might be on your walk with your dog listening to me blabber on. But. For me, this podcast is like a relationship with you. I feel like I'm talking to a friend when I jump on mic. Because you guys are so important to me. I want you to be part of me setting out my goals for the podcast for this year.
[00:02:14] Firstly. When looking on a personal level. Biggest goal for me in 2022 is to achieve some balance between personal life and work life. Last year, it was pretty easy to be a workaholic if I'm honest. With COVID I didn't really leave my house and I wasn't seeing anyone, so I'd spend my days regardless of whether it was a weekday or a weekend working because I'm frankly scared of failing and I always want to prove myself right. And for me, the answer to ensuring that I don't fail is to work hard. The problem with that need to work hard is it is in direct contradiction with my disability. I am really glad you guys can't see me sitting here now because I do not look like a person who have been on holidays for almost three weeks.
[00:03:28] That contradiction of needing to prove myself work hard. And have a disability. It's something I don't really talk about enough. I really struggle with fatigue. Early January always makes me reflect on what it was like to go back to work after my summer break. When I was working in corporate. All my other colleagues looked so refreshed, ready to take on the year. Like, they had 10 days off and they'd somehow become the energiser Bunny and been able to recharge themselves despite working so hard for all those weeks and weeks the previous year. I find it really hard because at the moment, still, I'm still not jumping out of bed. I'm still pretty exhausted. Struggling to string sentences together. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to record this episode and to sound coherent at the same time. The other half of me really wants to get back. Talking to you guys. Connecting with the guys. Even on my Instagram, I've had many messages asking if I'm OK where I am because I haven't appeared since before Christmas.
[00:05:08] Despite going to bed at a reasonable time, looking after myself, drinking kale smoothies every morning, I'm still exhausted, and I need to figure out this year what balance means for me. But that constant pull of work is pretty strong. And with that in mind, my goal for this year. My big goal. Is to improve the recognition. Of International Day of People with Disabilities Saturday, the 3rd of December 2022. The day seems to only live on the internet really as a whole. Yes, there are speaking opportunities for a select few. A privileged few. But I was really disappointed with the lack of recognition by other industries for International Day of People with Disabilities last year. There was no signs, no branding, no ads, nothing anyway in a public space, at least that I saw here in Melbourne. Sorry, as scary as this is to about, say, my main goal for 2022 for this podcast, my Instagram community. And you listening now is to try and get International Day for people with disabilities in 2022 into the mainstream.
[00:07:01] I don't know how I'm going to do it. I sort of have a loose idea in my head, but that's why I wanted to jump on the podcast for the first episode of this year. Give you an insight on what I'm thinking. And ask you for help. How would you make International Day for people with disabilities better? What are the things you'd like to see for this year? What sort of opportunities should people with disabilities experience? And how do we make it inclusive to everybody within the community? There are so many of us with obvious and invisible disabilities that deserve recognition, particularly on this special day. Now, there's a lot of challenges to that. I mean, of course, financial, time. I'm still pretty much nobody in the industry, so I'm going to have to pull some strings and see if I can get people with a lot bigger audience than me to get this off the ground. But. That is my goal, because people with disabilities deserve to be celebrated, at least for one day.
[00:08:19] So between me answering your questions about what life is like when you have a disability, having excellent guests with disabilities illustrating their experience with disability. I'm going to document everything that happens, the process of trying to get more recognition for International Day of People with disability this year. I hope you'll enjoy it. I'm not suggesting this is going to be an easy process, but I hope you'll keep me accountable, keep it going and hopefully a few of you might be able to help. And if you're feeling fatigued the day after your holiday, I'm thinking of you.
[00:09:11] So there we go. First episode of 20 22 is done. I hope you enjoyed it. It's great to be back. If you did enjoy it, can I encourage you to leave a rating and review if you listen on Apple podcasts? Or, if you listen on another platform, could you share it on social media or send it to a friend? I'm really passionate about growing this podcast, and I can't do that without your help. So until next week? Have a good one, guys. Bye.
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