u/Real_Swing6038

I've had epilepsy for decades now and I always reflect the day before my birthday. Tomorrow will be my first celebrating without anyone, my immediate family doesn't live near me.

Anyways, I was thinking about how I felt like I missed out on so much in high school. My focal seizures freaked people out and so making friends wasn't easy and I never went to prom. Nor were my seizures ever under control to have the driver's license right of passage. Medicine didn't make things any easier for me at a personal level, always made me tired.

However, despite missing out on those life "milestones" I still marched forward with life and at soon to be 37 I can say that none of that matters in the grand scheme of things. I will take law school graduate and member of the California State Bar over that any day.

My point is, so many things we "miss" out in life is not as big as it seems. What should really matter is how you make the best of your everyday life!

So next month will mark my third decade of epilepsy. I'm still chronologically young but epilepsy has definitely had a profound impact on my life and definitely made me grow up fast. Below are my five important life lessons that living with epilepsy has taught me.

1. Dream Careers May Disappear Because Of Epilepsy But New Ones Form!

Once one becomes diagnosed, a lot of careers become nearly impossible or not practical. For me, my dream career was always becoming a filmmaker. However, the hours were always weird and long and I closed that window painfully. I then sat there and asked myself, what is it that I wanted to do next. I realized as a child, I was a super fan of Law & Order. Something about law fascinated me, so I decided that maybe I would go to law school!

2. Having Controlled/ "Cured" Epilepsy Doesn't Solve Your Life Problems!

For those that have their seizures under control congrats! That's a milestone definitely worth celebrating! I hope I can be there one day too! Are you 1000% problem free in your everyday life? Even though I'm not seizure free, I deal with the everyday stress unrelated to my epilepsy, including dealing with angry lawyers and angry judges on a monthly basis, stuff that would still be there even if my seizures were 1000% managed.

3. Having Epilepsy Makes You Resilient...Even If You Don't Feel Like It!

Too many times the media shows only the most extreme of circumstances in which people had a set back in their life but got back on their feet and recovered. What they don't show enough is when someone has to deal with set back after set back after set back over decades of their life but are still able to get back on their feet each time. Mad props for all my fellow epileptics that have had multiple set backs but still managed to continue marching on with life and living it to your fullest!

4. Taking Baby Steps Is Better Than Taking No Steps At All!

The fear of having a seizure is totally warranted. Public embarrassment and or injury is not something anyone would want. However, as time has gone by, I've realized that I was missing out on what I wanted to do in life because the fear consumed me. The longer you live with epilepsy you should ask yourself what's worse, fearing the seizure or missing out on the once in a lifetime opportunity to do something?

5. The World Has A Place For Everyone...Even Us Epileptics!

When I was a younger epileptic I felt insecure about my place in this world. However, as I got older, I realized that everyone has their own problems healthy or not and it's how you carried yourself that was more important. While I'm an old soul and pretty reserved, I have no problem speaking before a judge and sounding like the most extroverted and confident person on planet earth, little do they know that someone with intractable epilepsy is arguing the matter.