Every day most of us wake up with so many blessings in our lives that we could spend a lifetime trying to count them. For every hardship we face, there is an opportunity waiting beneath the surface. However, that’s easier to say when things are going well. But when we are in the middle of our personal storms, it’s hard to believe that there is any good that can come from our misfortune. The unimaginable sense of loss people feel when they lose something they were born with, such as a limb or one of their senses, can be devastating. Of course, it easier for children to adapt to such losses than adults.
We hear about so many stories in which folks suffer horrible accidents and illnesses that leave them missing something we take for granted every day. And we may think to ourselves, “If that happened to me, what would I do?” Well, in most cases, the answer is simple — you would survive. After all, survival is our most basic instinct. Our will to do something will often force us to find ways of adapting, much like water adapts to new obstacles in our path. This is why we find that often the fear of facing something is much more painful than actually facing it. One woman who knows what it’s like to adapt is Mandy Harvey. Mandy was 18 when she lost her hearing in college, while she was studying for a career in music. For most musicians, this would be a death sentence for their careers, but Mandy found a way to keep her dreams alive, and in 2017, she auditioned for America’s Got Talent.
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When Mandy walked on the stage, it took Simon Cowell a minute to figure out that she was deaf, and after sharing her story, the panelists ascertained that she took off her shoes to feel the vibrations of the music through the floor. Mandy relies on muscle memory and pitch control to sing. She also told them that she would be singing an original song titled “Try.” After wishing her luck, she began her performance, accompanied on stage by a keyboardist and guitarist, while she played a ukelele. Once she began to sing, everyone sat a bit straighter in their seats, Mandy’s voice had a sweet, silky husky quality to it, and her lyrics spoke straight to the heart as she sang about facing unwanted circumstances with integrity and fortitude. After her performance, she received a standing ovation from the crowd and all of the judges. But, Simon Cowell summed it up best as he said: “Mandy, I don’t think you’re going to need a translator for this.” He then rose up and pressed his golden buzzer to send this remarkable woman straight to the live shows in Hollywood!
Image via YouTube
Watch Mandy show the world how much she can still shine in the video below.
