Published by: Voice of America, in Macedonian
Author: Toshe Ognjanov, 19 March 2021
Life has played around with him, but the downturn he faced provided him with opportunity to show that peoples with disabilities can fight for their rightful place in society. This is an inspiring story about Gere Tripkov, the initiator of a Personal Development Program.
“Come on! Let’s discover your best version. I am reaching out to you”.
What is the best version of you? Have you ever asked yourself what are your goals, are you on the right track, how to act in case of shocks in the surrounding environment, in society.
We asked Gere Tripkov, initiator of “CoSense” Program for Personal Life Development and Motivation for Peoples With Disabilities, for answers to this questions.
“To encourage new level of strength, new energy and to manifest that theirs individual potential is here to inspire others and their communities.” – says Tripkov.
And he adds, not only is this a case with peoples with disabilities, rather every individual feels the universal need for motivation. Especially in times of pandemics challenges, when people started to become isolated.
“What seems to be the issue in todays life, which is being confirmed by challenging times of pandemics, is that we self-isolate, we create our own barriers. What do we consider acceptable in interpersonal relations, how do we correlate to social issues, what is our role in the society?”– he underlines.
He says, fear is one of the obstacles on the way to discover our personal values and to maintain mental health.
“One of the biggest addictions are not stimulants, loosing control is. The first time we lose control, we lose ground beneath us. The fear comes secondary. If we acknowledge this emotions as normal ones, if we build us upon them, it is much easier.”
His commitment to guide himself to a motivation is caused indeed from the unpleasant play that his life has challenged him to. Today he is a wheelchair user, but he has found a bright point in this tragedy.
“I have had a pleasant experience, if its possible to define it that way. To live as a person without disability and than to become disabled. I’ve experienced both realities. When a man is thinking he has reached the top, he can achieve anything he imagine, when his ego is at its highest and than it drops down to the bottom, he starts to percept things quite differently.”– says Tripkov.
This exact state, he adds, gave him motivation to reach out to people that face existential downfalls.
“I came to realization, through my own experience, that it is my mission, that I am to spread positive intentions, that everyone of us is worthy and has his own mission to fulfill, his true existential goal and I help them to reveal theirs potential”.
Today’s society life is not an easy task, especially for persons with disability, but we shall not lose our hope for advancement.
“One drop of water does not seems to be heavy, but as times pass this weight becomes unbearable. The mission of persons with disabilities is to educate others that life is beautiful. We are the true example that life is short. We are meant to sparkle inspiration.”
He is committed to carry on with his mission until fulfillment, to overcome societal barriers and to bound peoples with disabilities with rest of the world by inspiring them to come closer and to get acquainted with each other.
“I don’t mind those looks, but we have to work harder for people to get educated on daily basis. Surely, we may have different needs, we may have a different daily routine, but at the end we share similar needs – as to be loved and accepted.”
Tripkov follows onto his path with barriers, but he is confident that in near future circumstances in the society will shift greatly for peoples with disabilities for which life has created unexpected obstacles.
