Hope

I recently read an article by Mr. Matthew Kelly, a New York Times best-selling author, that really impacted me that day. The article presented generally, how do ordinary people living ordinary lives persevere in their everyday lives? The pivotal question that he presented was this: “What gives you hope?”

Honestly, I was taken aback when I first read it. Hope is something we all believe, desire or trust will happen. Actually breaking down what gives me hope was “eye-opening” (couldn’t resist).

Living with myopic degeneration

I have been living with MD (macular degeneration) since 2019, my hope is believing, desiring and expecting that wonderful things are possible in my future.

That potentially there will be some true medical breakthroughs, if not in my time, in the times of our future generations. That through research and trials, this malady will be halted. That all degenerative eye disease will cease.

Never give up

The feeling of hopelessness can be so overwhelming, I know I have felt it at times when I wonder and worry about my future living with Myopic Macular Degeneration. When I begin to feel this despair, all I can do is dwell on the negatives, worrying about all the what-ifs that I may encounter.

Turn it around

When reading Mr. Kelly’s words of hope, I saw the importance of really knowing the differences between being hopeful and feeling hopelessness. It became so clear, one who is hopeful has belief in the future, where things will be better.

It may not be the better we envision, 20/20 vision etc., but with all the new technology available, living with hope shows us that the future can be better.

Empowerment

Having hope can empower a person. Hope being believing there is a way to manage our day to day activity and enjoy the process. For me personally, it's the extra lighting throughout our home, reading my favorite mystery books on Kindle and my daily newspaper online, and enjoying the great outdoors with “my over the glasses" sunglasses.

When you fall into the hopelessness world, it is so easy to stop believing that your future can be better. You begin to feel that there is nothing that can be done about your situation. Believing like this only takes us deeper into that hopelessness, feeling that even the smallest things are impossible.

Finding hope

I have been living these past 4 years with my own diagnosis of Myopic Macular Degeneration. I find myself sometimes having to really dig deep to find hope for my future.

My personal journey is on a kind of hold and see, my last eye injection was April of 2022. This June I will go for a recheck, having seven months between appointments definitely goes in my hopeful category.

My wish for all of us with any form of Degeneration of the eyes is: That you may have the feeling of confidence and courage as this journey lies ahead of you. That something wonderful is possible, no matter how small.