Don’t Die Before Your Death

Dec 13, 2024

Last year when I was on the verge of a breakdown, I came across a story. One, that changed the way I looked at life.

This story can lift your spirits, perk you up and help you believe in life again (even in your darkest and lowest moments). It is the tale of breaking the shackles and conquering fears.

This is the story of a girl, who didn’t know what she was capable of until an accident changed the trajectory of her life. At 18, she was married. At 21, she met a devastating accident that left her in a hospital bed. Her ribs were broken, wrist fractured, shoulder bone gone, right arm severely injured and worst of all, a severe injury on the spinal cord.

For two and a half months she was confined to the hospital bed. She went through three major and two minor surgeries. She recovered bit by bit but her ordeal was not over. Doctors informed that she wouldn’t be able to paint and may never be able to walk again. But the worst was yet to come: she won’t be able to bear a child. Ever.

And her husband was not keen to be on her side.

She was devasted and life was pointless, colorless, and aimless. She didn’t want to live. But then she says:

I was tired of the white scrub looking at the white walls doing nothing sitting idle. I really didn’t want to live but then I realized that instead of crying for the people who were not meant to be with me. And for the legs which I have lost. I have people around me who want to see me alive. I have so much to be grateful for.

With her deformed hand, she started to paint. And a day came when she was discharged from the hospital. She came back home. However, she was still not able to get up from the bed as she had developed pressure ulcers (also called bedsores) due to prolonged pressure on the body.

For the next two years, she was confined to the bed. It was her mother and brothers who gave her hope. Her mother would say, “This too shall pass. God has a greater plan for you.”

When for the first time, she says, “the day I started on a wheel chair, I was a completely different person.” She further says:

I still remember that I look myself on the mirror and I said you cannot wait for a miracle and come to make you walk. You cannot wait for the sense of treatment because it’s very expensive. You cannot sit in the corner of the room crying and begging for the mercy. Because people don’t have time. So, the only thing that I could do was to accept myself the way I was sooner the better. That’s what I did.

But her story didn’t end the moment she decided to break the shackles. A new chapter began.

She had three fears and one by one she resolved to face and conquer those fears.

Fear #1: Fear of Divorce

I was trying to cling onto this person who did not want me anymore. But the day I decided that this is nothing but my fear, I liberated myself by setting him free. And I made myself emotionally strong that the day I heard he is getting remarried, I sent him a text wishing him all the best.

Fear #2: Fear of not being able to have children

She overcame this fear by fulfilling her desire to experience motherhood by adopting a child. She recalled, how apprehensive was she when her application was approved and she went to the orphanage to complete the formalities. She was relieved, when the person in charge said, she was the best mother for the child.

Fear #3: Fear of facing people

She pursued her passion for painting and participated in exhibitions. She became the first wheelchair-bound artist in her country. She joined the national television as an anchor. At 28, she was appointed goodwill ambassador by the UN Women—an entity of the United Nations dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Meet Muniba Mazari, activist, anchor artist, model, singer, and motivational speaker.