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Beauty pageant winner inspires with courage and joy

Posted on by angelo
Beauty pageant winner inspires with courage and joy

Anna Płoszyńska won the title of 2nd Vice Miss World Wheelchair in 2022. In an interview, she talks about being active and positive despite her disability.

When Anna Płoszyńska was only 17 years old, she was active and sporty. Then she had an accident at a sports camp that caused severe spinal cord damage, leaving her paraplegic. She has not stopped being active; instead, she participated in a beauty pageant (coming in third place) and continues to practice sports suited to her condition. She swims, dances and runs. Journalist Marta Dybińska interviewed her during Aletia.

His professional life

Marta Dybińska: A few moments before our interview, you came home from work. What do you do for a living?

Anna Ploszyńska: Since I finished my studies, I have wanted to work as a dental technician. I also and above all wanted to be independent. Luckily for me, I was able to find a job fairly quickly. In fact, by my second year of higher education, I was already practicing the profession. Now I’m out of college and working for a company that makes dentures – designing dentures with 3D technologies and metalworking.

Has your professional life changed since you received the title of II Vice Miss World Wheelchair?

Ploszyńska: It didn’t really change, except that everyone at work congratulated me. My professional life is the same. I have already received a lot of orders for dentures, so I have to concentrate intensely on my work. Sometimes someone stops me and asks me if I was the Miss World wheelchair finalist. I became a little more recognizable. It’s good that some people know me.

Stay active

Before your accident, you were also a black belt in karate and won several medals at the World and European Championships. Nothing is impossible for you, is it?

Ploszyńska: I want to show that everything is possible, that nothing is impossible. If people hear about me, I hope it will help change the perception of people with disabilities a little.

I admire you a lot ; you are extremely active. Where do you find so much energy?

Ploszyńska: Sometimes I wonder myself where I get so much energy (Laughs). I think I feel like I have an inner mission to fulfill, to prove that there are no limits in our lives and that we can do whatever we want.

I have been an athlete for a long time. Before the accident, I was training karate; I still have the soul of an athlete. Now I have taken up swimming and before that I took ballroom dancing lessons. I want to do something all the time. I don’t like to be bored and I don’t like to be passive; I like it when something happens. Sometimes I’m tired too, but in the long run “doing nothing” is tiring for me.

Facing disability with courage

Did you feel depressed after the accident?

Ploszyńska: I didn’t experience a period of depression or depression as such, because from the beginning I didn’t think my life was over. I knew it would be different, that I would have to sort everything out in my head, but I also knew that I would be able to live and enjoy life. Plus, I wanted to become independent from the start, and that also helped me get through it.

How do you deal with the toughest times?

Ploszyńska: Like everyone, I have moments of weakness and helplessness. And sometimes, when I have a more difficult day, when my back hurts or my legs are very tight, I get fed up with everything. Then I want to cry into a pillow. However, I get back up very quickly and continue to try to move forward.

And after the accident, did you have any grudges against God?

Ploszyńska: I tried not to say “what if…” I instead thought about how things could always be worse: that I couldn’t be here, that I could have damaged my spine higher… I I tried to see the positive in what was happening. arrived.

Now I think that maybe God did this so that I could also help others and so that I could motivate others to do things, because not everyone has such a strong psyche and manages not good during difficult times. And I think I can also inspire them with my example.

Healthy self-image

In the past, have you ever had any complexes with yourself?

Ploszyńska: I have always been a self-loving person. And I didn’t really have too many blockages. I’m trying to make sure no one messes with my head. We always said in the family that I had no reason to have blockages.

Did this change after the accident?

Ploszyńska: After the accident, I had times where I considered myself inferior. I had to think it all through in my head. I created a lot of stories for myself, and they weren’t necessarily true. But right now, I am confident: I believe in my abilities and in myself. I hope to help women who are in a similar situation to believe in themselves and know that they can be beautiful despite the fact that they have a disability for example.

What does disability mean to you?

Ploszyńska: I don’t look at myself through the prism of my disability. In fact, my disability only manifests itself when my environment is not adapted to my needs.

Relationship with Boyfriend and Family Life

Would you like to become a mother?

Ploszyńska: I would like. I am thinking of starting a family in the future. We are both thinking about it. My disability in no way prevents me from starting a family. And after taking care of my nephew, I know I could handle it.

And would you like to get married in church?

Ploszyńska: We are both religious. We would like to marry in the Church, baptize our children and raise them in the Catholic faith.

You have a good relationship with your father. Has he always been like this?

Ploszyńska: My father has supported me since I was a child, as my mother died when I was eight years old. Since then, I have been raised solely by my father. He always supported me and was both mom and dad to me. After my accident, he was also very supportive. And it’s like that until today. Now we also support my brother, because he suffers from very serious health problems.

Realism and joy

Is there any hope that you will one day be able to stand on your own two feet?

Ploszyńska: No, I can’t feel my legs or move them at all. My spinal cord injuries are so severe that unfortunately, without the development of new medications, I am unable to improve my condition in any way.

Back to the competition. Did you have any premonitions?

Ploszyńska: I had a small hope of being able to win the title. At the Final Gala itself, once they read the titles, I had more and more hope of winning one of the main titles, because at first they were reading the complementary titles and they were not saying my name. I concluded that since they hadn’t read my name, I had a better chance of winning one of the main titles. And that’s what happened. They announced me as 2nd Vice Miss World Wheelchair.

So what ?

Ploszyńska: Joy, happiness and emotion that I was appreciated, that someone noticed me.

Bogumiła Siedlecka-Goślicka, znana jako blogerka Anioł na Resorach
ALBERT LLOVERA