I was talking to my mom on the phone tonight, discussing the deficits I’ve suffered since having three strokes. I realize in some things, I’m quite ordinary or even poor at doing some things, but there were certain things in my life I was exceptional at. And now, in those things, I am but ordinary.<\/p>\n
And ordinary isn’t bad.. But it’s not exceptional, either, and when you’re used to one, learning the other sucks.<\/p>\n
I’ll give you an example. My average –AVERAGE – typing speed, with zero errors, used to be about 120 words per minute. I could type about as fast as a persson talked normally, as fast as I could think the words. After the strokes, I now type around 60 to\u00a0 \u00a070 words per minute with mistakes here and there.<\/p>\n
That’s actually faster than most people type. But I WAS exceptional. Now, I struggle to be ordinary and it’s\u00a0 not easy. It hurts, and my hands cramp up and tremor. Which affects my thinking, which makes writing hard.<\/p>\n
Then there’s the aphasia. Not being able to come up with the right word. Sure, I can\u00a0 substitute another word, but I’m a writer! It affects my writing!<\/p>\n
But a neurologist is going to look at his parameters (I had to pause to come up with that word) and they are going to say there’s\u00a0 no deficit. I’m perfectly…. ordinary.<\/p>\n
But I was exceptional.<\/p>\n
Have i lost all the ways I used to be exceptional before I even realized I was exceptional? It has been a year since the strokes and I have still not sat in front of my piano….Ryan tells me I should, that it would be good therapy for me, but I was good. What if I’m not anymore. What if I can’t play. What if I’m ordinary and I’ve lost that too.<\/p>\n
We all have exceptional things about us. I need to discover what makes me exceptional now because ordinary doesn’t work for me! I crave\u00a0 more!<\/p>\n
What makes you exceptional?<\/p>\n
I love and need you all,<\/p>\n
Michy<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was talking to my mom on the phone tonight, discussing the deficits I’ve suffered since having three strokes. I realize in some things, I’m quite ordinary or even poor at doing some things, but there were certain things in my life I was exceptional at. And now, in those things, I am but ordinary. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n