"I think I can"
Carolyn lost much of her vision after several glaucoma surgeries, leaving her feeling angry and discouraged. But a familiar childhood story inspired her to keep trying, even when tasks seemed impossible.
Hadley
I think I can
Carolyn: I lost much of my vision. I began to become very puzzled, angry and disillusioned by what had happened.
Marc: This is Hadley’s Insights and Sound Bites, where people facing vision loss share what has helped them cope and adjust.
Carolyn: Hello, my name is Carolyn and I live in the state of Virginia. Over 30 years ago, I was diagnosed with glaucoma and until 2017, my vision was pretty good. However, in 2017, the doctors decided that I needed to have surgery. I had my first intrusive surgery during that year. Then I had two more surgeries in 2019, along with some other procedures.
Things did not go well and I lost much of my vision. At this time, I began to become very puzzled, angry and disillusioned by what had happened. I recently began to think of a children's story entitled, “The Little Engine That Could.” There was a little engine that was given the task to pull a train over a mountain. This train had toys in it that was going to be given to children.
The Little Engine thought he could not perform this task. However, he girded himself up and he began to say to himself, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” And the more he became confident of what he could do, he was successful in getting that train over that mountain. Once he got the train over the mountain, he said to himself, “I thought I could, I thought I could.”
I am using this same scenario in my life with my vision. I thought I could not do some task because of the vision loss. However, once I got training and got help with resources such as Hadley, iBook, my local rehabilitation center. And yes, my peers, I began to successfully accomplish some task. I therefore was saying to myself, as the little engine did, “I think I can, I think I can.”
And then once I accomplished those task, I said to myself again, as the little engine said, “I thought I could. I thought I could.” I encourage you to think like that little engine. With the notion of, I think I can, I think I can. And you will achieve those things that you thought you could not. You will be able to get over the mountains that you face, persist, persevere and push.
God bless.
Marc: You never know who might need to hear your story. If you’d like to share with us, just leave us a message on our Insights & Sound Bites voicemail. By calling, 847-512-4867. Or, you can use your smartphone or computer and email us a recording to [email protected].
All Episodes
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Episode 11
Gregory shares how finding a mentor made all the difference in the world to him, and his entire family.
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Episode 10
Listen in as we hear from Sarah. For her, hearing a blind architect's story changed her perspective on what was possible.
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Episode 9
Listen in as Tom shares how leaning on his faith helps him adjust to vision loss.
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Episode 8
Pat shares with us the choices she made when faced with a visual impairment.
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Episode 7
Darryl shares with us how a referral to a low vision specialist was where his life with vision loss began to turn around.
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Episode 6
Annie shares with us the steps she took to work through her depression by seeking help from a mental health professional.
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Episode 5
Sharon shares with us how she worked through the isolation and found people just like her to get the support she needed.
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Episode 4
Hannah shares with us how she had to give herself permission to grieve her vision loss in order to reach acceptance.
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Episode 3
Randy's search for help led him into a whole new way of thinking.
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Episode 2
Ruth shares how her mother's advice, "Knock the T Off Can't," helped her.
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Episode 1
Larry shares how he found strength in his core beliefs to get him through the shock of his initial diagnosis.