This episode is called Hopeful Realism.

There was a chapter of my life where everything turned upside down…
and somehow, I was still expected to move like nothing happened.

People would say, “he’s so lucky,”
but they didn’t see the silence I was holding…
the confusion, the fear… the moments where my own mind didn’t feel like mine.

I was showing up to weddings, to photoshoots—
while my brain was fighting something I didn’t even understand yet.

A brain abscess.
A stroke.
Aphasia.
Prosopagnosia—face blindness.

I remember asking myself…
why does everyone look like strangers?
Why do I feel like a stranger to myself?

The world kept spinning…
but I felt completely still.

This episode is me putting those pieces together—
honoring the version of me who survived it…
and finding hope inside something that once felt impossible to understand.

Resources/ Books

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science-Norman Doidge M.D. 

Don't Believe Everything You Think-Joseph Nguyen

The Brain's Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity-orman Doidge M.D.

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey-Jill Bolte Taylor 

• Hopeful Realism: Surviving Aphasia, Stroke & Face Blindness
• Hopeful Realism | Brain Injury, Identity Loss & Healing
• Hopeful Realism: When the World Feels Unfamiliar After Stroke
• Hopeful Realism: My Story with Aphasia & Prosopagnosia
• #HopefulRealism
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