How Different Can Life Post-Brain Surgery Really Be?!

Finding Normal June Edition

Suddenly I kinda fit in. But the world is on a very different trajectory since I made the choice to have life-saving brain surgery. I spent years healing while a pandemic kept others locked indoors staying safe from a virus. We all aged but technology kept us connected. I have heard an astounding tale that people emerged only to venture out for the basic items needed to survive those years. Now that is hard to believe. Maybe you find my life choices hard to imagine, but I can't believe what you went through. Hard to connect to people when there's no one around to connect to. But it can be done, I suppose...

It doesn't mean I'm a fan of this "new normal." The drastic brain surgery was still a success. The way to evaluate a life is not an "all or nothing" approach. It's in happiness. The new match I've met on eHarmony - which has scoured the planet for this man - is giddy that I even exist. My skin condition is irrelevant. Whether I have had a manicure lately does not matter to my "match." The point, dear reader: play the long game and don't worry about all the pressure we put on never aging or changing. Impossible.

I realized a great thing, today: there are ways I can continue to make positive change regardless of my body's limitations. Our new normal in 2024 has created some inclusive spaces and I'll be included in some moments that are yet to come. Previous moments of discrimination and ableism does not need to hold me back.

I can't do everything nor change people and their biases - if a politician acted badly, that is his/her/their fault. Not on me. Time to pass my guilt forward. I can embrace the Digital Revolution to its fullest. 2024 is bound up in a whirl of stress and chaos. There seems to be a desire to re-connect to stoicism and nature. 2024 is offering moments to share my excitement when I'm actually kind of "like others" even though my life has been far from "normal."

The point, dear reader: Epilepsy was a tough sucker to live with. People with epilepsy lack a sense of community too often. The isolation people with epilepsy are burdened with has been overlooked and underaddressed for far too long. The status quo for millions of individuals that face the threat of seizures needs to change. Better education, more inclusion, and safer streets for individuals needs to be part of our world's vision for the 22nd century.