"It's not my whole life"

Hadley

It’s not my whole life

Alice: I wallowed in self-pity and I just kept repeating the words, Why me? Why me? Why did this happen to me?

Marc: This is Hadley’s Insights and Sound Bites, where people facing vision loss share what has helped them cope and adjust.

Alice: Hello. My name's Alice I'm from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. I wasn’t born as a blind person, but I lost my eyesight due to glaucoma when I was a teenager. So, for about four or five years after my vision loss, I was spiraling into two extremes self-pity and denial.

From time to time, I just hid in my own shell and I kept myself away from other people. I wallowed in self-pity and I just kept repeating the words, Why me? Why me? Why did this happen to me?

But sometimes I fell into the trap of denial. I denied the fact that I can no longer see. I tried too hard in everything to act like a sighted person. And I was too proud to ask for help from other people. So, you may guess what happened to me? I just ended up in misery.

But a miracle happened one day when I was at university. My then boyfriend said, Alice like it or not, blindness is a part of your life. But you must also understand that it's not your whole life.

It was really an aha moment for me. Like it or not, I must accept that blindness is a part of my life. I cannot remove it from my life. But it's not my whole life or it's not the end of the world.

I still have many other senses, and I still can do many other things. Maybe in different ways that worked. Blindness is a part of your life, not your whole life.

So, unfortunately, I broke up with that boyfriend, but his words still has a special place in my heart. Blindness is a part of your life, not your whole life.

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].