About Reader
Orly Shamir
- Country: United States
- Profession: Chef, Motivational speaker, Author
- Born: December 24
- Member Since: Nov 2020
- Profile View: 69
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I want to demonstrate that I have the ability to overcome adversities and conquer my fears,
and inspire hope and empowerment in others who are dealing with vision loss, blindness or other life challenges.
I want to Guide other’s through empowerment and with my recipes for success. Changing the world one step of this climb at a time, and through my culinary aspirations one meal at a time.
The year 2020 is a unique opportunity to bring attention to healthy vision, a healthier body, and mind. As well exposing, and Educating the world that living with vision loss does not mean a lesser quality or jail sentence. There is an incredible life we can all achieve with blindness. Mount Kilimanjaro is the perfect platform to demonstrate that rising above any challenges is possible, I am so ready to do the hard work, and hard work it will be. Nothing comes easy, and I’ve always been able to put in my intentions, my dedication, and do what it takes to rise above and achieve. I am hoping that this will help provide educational insight to others regarding vision loss and the ability to overcome its related challenges.
Climbing a mountain is like climbing the journey of life, always seeking to get to the summit. I had to learn the hard way that, "It's the journey that's important, not the destination!" I had to learn to go with the current of life like floating with the flow of a river, and not against it. For years I reached out for help and support in order to beat my addictions and mental health struggles, and didn’t understand why I had so many set backs each time. My efforts weren’t lasting, despite my will and determination. When I started to incorporate consistent proper nutrition, physical exercise and movement, my body and mind built up the strength, the clarity and stamina to be fully present and engaged - and I reached the summit. Taking this story up Mount Kilimanjaro is the next step in showing other’s around the world that they too can face the climb. It takes time and effort to build self-confidence, The strength to believe that you can take back control of your life and change things.
It is truly a life time journey, but so worth it. Since forever I remember receiving the call to adventure, but my upbringing my hardships kept me blind
I always have had a drive, an unwavering unfailing engeine, to always rise above no matter what
Few people know it took an inner tube to save my life. I was afraid to show my vulnerabilities as I was brought up being taught emotion is weakness. Being blind compounded that, as I wanted to prove myself. Numbing with substance helped me cope with my inner struggles. For years I got in my own way by resisting that tugging that said “I need help”. I went against the current, and the more I pushed and resisted, the more pressure I felt inside until it became so intense needed to escape. But would I ask for help?? No way!
Not this strong, independent blind woman! Until the infamous inner tubing incident...
I proudly placed my inner tube in the water thinking the current was going the opposite way. I held on for dear life, crashing, bumping into rocks, falling in but getting up, falling in, getting up, all wet and stubborn! Friends rushed to my side, worried I had lost my mind. Covered in bumps and bruises, inflicted by my blind pride as I kept refusing the support I needed and deserved, stubbornly trying to force my inner tube to go against the current! The thing I was avoiding was hitting me right back in the face. I just kept thinking what a blind thing to do!! Or perhaps, what a human thing to do. If I just reached out and said, yes I need help and support to position my inner tube for a successful fall down the river rapids, I would have been safe, flowing with ease, have more fun, less tension and pressure. So simple right?
My name is Orly – it means “my Light” in Hebrew, That’s how I see myself – I Am Light and I Am Vision.
I am a talented chef, and a successful motivational speaker. A bi-lingual financial professional, a champion athlete, Oh yes, and I’m a recovering opioid addict, and I’m blind.
Although I am physically blind, I have true 20/20 vision and am so ready to prepare for and conquer the Mount Kilimanjaro climb, joining Mountains and Marathons leadership program. Through this incredible opportunity, I will develop and gain all the tools in becoming a powerful leader that will propel me up the Mountain, and then out to the world. creating, and Sharing my light through multi sensory experiences through food, and through recipes of life success.
My own story of failure, addiction, and domestic abuse woven in with courage, resilience, and recovery – it was all for this!
I am compelled to inspire, motivate, and to support others in knowing that change is possible.
It’s everyone’s story. It is our traumas that blind us, and our truth that lights the way.
I was born in Montreal, moved to Toronto at the age of 19. I have 3 amazing kids, and worked for TD bank and American Express for 18 years before moving to Florida 2 years ago.
Most recently I graduated Culinary school in January 2020, right before Covid.
Did you know blind people are 40% more likely to develop addictions and struggle with their mental health? And did you know proper nutrition is key to recovery and thriving in life? This is a huge barrier for visually impaired people worldwide, who struggle to recover from addictions while navigating the challenges with healthy eating, from shopping to reading food labels, let alone chopping and frying! I can change that, and I’m going to.
I have gotten out of my own way, and no longer live stuck in my thoughts, my head. I live from my heart.
We all go against the current of life unknowingly at some point. However many are lost in the pressure, not understanding why or how to fix it. I am living proof that surrendering, letting go of control, and the need to know the outcome is much easier than we all think. When we surrender and just relax, let go and move with the flow, it’s such a relief, we gain tremendous clarity, things start to fall in place. Now understanding how simple it is makes me laugh, as I thought the solution was more complicated, I made it more complicated for myself with my stubborn blind pride
It is OK to be empowered as a blind person, and as a human being, and it is also OK to need help. Go down the rapids on an inner tube if you don’t believe me.
It takes time and effort to build self-confidence, The strength to believe that you can take back control of your life and change things
The Opioid epidemic and all types of addictive behaviors, and mental health struggles that was already existent through communities all over the world is more than ever a threat with the global Coronavirus lockdown. People of all abilities and disabilities on the road to recovery will now be faced with many triggers such as anxiety, that lead to bad habits, such as poor nutritional choices. The entire world needs support, guidance, and impactful inspiration towards recovery of all kinds, which is why I have created Nourished By Light.
Have you ever intended to put your all into your recovery and found you keep taking steps back?
Yeah, me too. I knew what road I was heading down but for twelve years I ignored every exit.
That was until I discovered how FOOD and physical movement was my key to recovery. All my senses give me a connection to life, and because food is such a sensual experience it became my lifeline.
But wait. How does a blind person navigate a kitchen, read food labels, even afford the nourishment we all need for rising and thriving?
This is where I come in, learn to follow your senses and trust the inner guidance that flows through you, just like I did. Learn to smell, taste, and savor every bite, and bring that savoring out into your life with you, appreciating each moment through gratitude, for the richness and texture and variety of sensation that it brings you.
You deserve a life of lusciousness. You deserve the gifts that the world has for you, and you are worthy of receiving the abundance that's available - no matter what your disabilities are, whether they are functional or spiritual, visible or invisible. Start with food, the fastest way to receive your life's nourishment.
James Holman said, “Illness is merely the bitter, which a wise Providence mingles in the cup of life.” I love the hint at the culinary alchemy that happens when ingredients meet, and I also love the universal truth in this statement. If you have a life, then you also have some form of illness - and that’s ok. It’s a part of the whole dish.
Every human on this planet has a tale of disability or trauma, and a tale of recovery. Nobody escapes the sacred challenges life brings, blind or not. It’s just in there, in the cup of life. There is a great deal of enlightenment to be had when we allow ourselves to be fully whole and healed even with our disabilities and illnesses. But there is another universal human truth: Food. We all need to eat, and we all have the ability to enjoy the richness of sensory experience. If for nothing else, this is a source of both physiological and spiritual medicine.
