Jacob's Song of the Day (10/15/2015): "Little Victories" by Matt Nathanson

Today's song comes from a great guy to see in concert and someone who doesn't get near the attention in the media that he deserves, Matt Nathanson. Matt likes to interact with his audience during his time on stage, often calling people out for paying more attention to their phone than the artist who is trying to pour his heart out. He's got a wicked sense of humor that helps to make him such an entertaining guy on stage. The song I picked today was "Little Victories", have a listen and read why I chose this song today:

"And I'll learn to get by/On the little victories/And if the world decides to catch up with me/Still little victories"

We are all working to get somewhere, to achieve some type of goal. Sometimes our thoughts can be so focused on getting that end result that we can't see the little achievements that we've made along the way. This is so true for us living with an incurable illness. Sometimes we can only see how far we still have left to go on this journey. We can get so concerned with the "final product" that we can't see that we've already accomplished so much. We need to see these little victories. They are what make up our journey and shape our lives.

Yesterday I was talking with the teacher that the school has hired to follow me around in case I need immediate medical support, about what I've been up to. I told her about donating my hair to make a wig for kids with hair loss, about donating my colon to try to find a cure for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. I told her about being honored with The Jack Cornwell Decoration through Scouts Canada (the highest honor given to Scouts Canada participants who have shown great courage and bravery while undergoing serious personal challenges and still serving their community). Then I mentioned that I was a Sick Kids Hospital Ambassador, a representative of the IBD Clinic for their fundraising media, a proud supporter of the ByStander Revolution to get rid of bullying, and doing my own fundraising campaign, Jacob's Healing Rooms, to help brighten the spirits of other sick kids on treatment days. I think her mouth is still hanging open at all that I have done. But then when I thought about it all, it's almost like it's another person I'm thinking about. I couldn't possibly have done all that, could I? Why does it feel like I still haven't done enough, that there is so much more I could do when I've already done so much? I think it's because there's still so much more that I want to do to help others. This is what my life was meant for, I can feel it in my heart. But I also know that I need to celebrate the little victories more. And my biggest little victory is just getting out of bed each day, so I should celebrate each day that that happens.