Category: Stories and Anecdotes
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Language is powerful. Words can comfort, clarify, confuse, categorize, criticize, and occasionally cause complete conversational chaos. Human beings are remarkably talented at attaching memories, assumptions, fears, expectations, and assorted emotional debris to otherwise ordinary words, then reacting to the entire pile as though the word itself showed up carrying luggage. Consider someone who asks a…
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Welcome back, brave adventurer! You’ve heard the tale of one hero’s battle with the Clutter Monster. Now it’s your turn to begin your own quest. Every successful expedition follows a plan, and this map is designed to guide you one manageable step at a time. There is no need to conquer the entire castle in…
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The Adventure Begins Every great quest begins with an ordinary problem that somehow grows into an intimidating monster. For many of us, that monster isn’t a dragon, it’s the overflowing closet, the crowded garage, or the spare room we keep meaning to organize “someday.” If you’ve ever opened a closet, sighed, and quietly closed the…
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Not long after I became legally blind in 2010, I was introduced to a woman who would become very influential in my life. Liz is deafblind, has similar body issues to my own and has been a long-time guide dog handler. She taught me much about living blind as well as making the decision whether…
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As the cook in the family, I try to make sure everyone gets fed and that there are leftovers for later. Most of my cooking happens by touch, smell, and timing these days, which works surprisingly well. It had been a busy day, and I had set aside six pork chops to cook in the…
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I have had the phrase, managing expectations, come to mind quite often recently, and in different situations with myself as well as with others. I’ve felt frustrated (sometimes unreasonably so) when something didn’t go the way I wanted it too, and I’ve seen people getting angry over situations that I felt their expectations were unreasonable.…
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At first, it does not feel serious.Reading glasses just do not seem to work quite as well anymore. You secretly increase the font size on your phone, then tell yourself everyone does that now anyway. You start using the flashlight on your phone to read menus or grocery labels once in a while. Street signs…
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Your Brain Is Making Stuff Up and Committing To It With Confidence If you’ve ever waved back at someone who absolutely was not waving at you…Or confidently grabbed the “sugar” that turned out to be salt…Or had a full half-second of “oh good, there’s a person there” before realizing it’s a coat on a chair……
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These days many of us are aware of “Influencers” on social media, these folks have made a name (and money) for themselves on the internet by working at selling themselves. I have come to understand that there are other influencers in the world who have been around long before the internet, life influencers. I have…
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After my cataract surgery, we chose to operate on only one eye because I’m at high risk for retinal detachment. The replacement lens has fixed magnification. Intellectually, I understood that newly changed vision would affect my depth perception. I anticipated it in theory. In daily life, however, anticipation and embodiment are two very different things.…