The deconstruction of our own brain seems, at face value, completely unfair. Truthfully, it is. Ruthless reality strikes and sends a blow straight to the nervous system, affecting any patient with a brain condition. With epilepsy, I survived the strike stronger than others did; I never take my diagnosis for granted in comparison to those who battle Alzheimer’s every day. As someone who regularly takes five medications, I struggle with mild cognitive habits, like remembering a word or a recent event. Yet, as someone who also has dear friends that live with harsher conditions, who prevail at the end of the day because they make peace with their perils, I suffer more to see the brain in a negative connotation.
June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness month. With this, seek positive light in those who have an ailment. We are not in a battle against our brains, we are simply buffering the best version of ourselves. The agitating rainbow-colored wheel is often the culprit of forgotten directions to a favorite restaurant – no, we aren’t Apple computers, but our wheel may take a couple more clockwise turns than the rest.
Humanity begs for one another to help in times of need or even in times of pure vigor; there will be moments for all of us when assistance is demanded and, for someone with a unique brain, the best assistance is patience. To understand that the answer will come, perhaps in a different form than expected but a form that makes the wait worthwhile. The answer may be singing a remembered nursery rhyme at the age of 103, or aspiring to be a neurologist at the age of nineteen after multiple EEGs and hospital visits. Every answer is critical to the core of who we are, people with deconstructed brains and determination to become our best self.