Guest Post: John Kochmanski // @JohnKochmanski

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There are a lot of things that inspire me. An older couple out for a walk, hand in hand. A warm breeze hitting my face as I close my eyes and look in to the sun. The curiosity of a child. Standing in the middle of a forest. A fly that repeatedly slams in to a window while trying to escape to the outdoors. The list goes on and on.

I struggled with which topic to discuss. A "kid" I met recently kept popping into my head, so I'd like you to meet Aaron Shafer. Aaron is a young artist from West Michigan that is on a quest to create as much art as he can. You see, Aaron has Stargardt disease which causes progressive vision loss usually to the point of legal blindness. He is loosing his eyesight and for most artists this would be devastating. He doesn't complain that he has Stargardt, but will quickly tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the disease.

He doesn't use his malady as an excuse, but embraces it and moves on. Aaron and others like Aaron, deeply inspire me. Those of us that have not experienced the loss of a limb, loss of eyesight or another form of hardship often lose motivation to do what truly makes us happy. We have hundreds, if not thousands of excuses for why.  Self included.

Embrace what your gut is telling you and do what is eating at you. No excuses.