This past week, I was talking with an elderly friend. My
friend has no sight in her left eye and over this past while, she realized that
the sight in her right eye was deteriorating. My friend expressed such sadness
at the prospect of becoming completely blind. She said that she felt that there
was no purpose left in her life.
The conversation with my friend took me back to the early
days of my own vision loss. It has been some time now since I dealt with that
dramatic and traumatic change. I know that I have come a long way since then
but I can still recall the emotional upheaval that initial diagnosis
brought.
In many ways, the initial experience of vision loss has
given me some insight and understanding of what other people might be
experiencing. Although we all feel grief and loss in ways that are unique to
our own situations, there are also common threads. When someone is grieving over a loss, it is
not unusual for them to have feelings of denial. Why is this happening, or why
is it happening to me? They might have feelings of anger, of frustration or
confusion. There is often a time of extreme sadness bordering on depression.
This is what my friend was feeling. While all these feelings can overwhelm a
person at different times and last for differing durations, eventually most
people reach a stage of acceptance.
I like to think that my own experience has broadened my
horizons and brought me to a place where I can be more sensitive to the needs
of others. I would like my life to show that there is a light at the end of the
tunnel. Dealing with blindness or change because of vision loss can be
challenging for sure, but life can go on. I prefer to look at life with hope
and optimism.
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