Watching this great clip by Kathleen Kiddo, I was struck by several things.

Firstly, how clear and confident her speech is (I believe she had the brain operation a few months ago), and how what she offers in yet another lucid, coherent and instantly informative video again manages to tackle a whole gamut of key issues Early Onsetters may be facing.

The theme of this video is, after all, communication and the pitfalls of virtual communications et cetera, the bane of my life. For me, it’s the never-ending explaining that gets to me, whether that exchange is in-person or via telecommunication.

When perfectly good-natured people I meet for the first time, knowing I have EOPD, still seem to think I’m trying to almost apologise for my affliction when – this tends to happen mostly when my speech is bad – I’m just keen to get the point across that although they might think I’m a nervous, jabbering wreck, I am just having a rough patch in my PD cycle (for want of a better description).

“Don’t worry, it’s all good.”

Or perhaps I’m trying to convey that I’m not always ‘like this’  – in which case there could be a hint of despair creeping into my convo. Lord knows.

Slowing down, however, has now become an actual possibility for me as I find myself fortunate to (finally, Hallelujah!) be living in affordable accomodation in a pleasant inner city suburb with helpful, capable and sincere support staff on-site 24/7.

The other day it came to me, instead of racing after a million plans to pursue, none of which ever seems to turn into something useful, I think I might just go back to where I started creatively and reset my love of crafting poetry and painting.

And in the meantime? Just do what I can, where I am, with what I have. One of the carers spent some time with me this morning and as she’s also studying to become a Nurse I took the opportunity to share some experiences in a series of neurology wards. Don’t worry, I kept it light.

Once again, Kathleen Kiddo’s wonderful clip A Mountain at the Gate proved very helpful in this regard.