What a Week!

Hey guys, I hope you had a good week!

It is really weeks like this that really put things into perspective for you. I had a really rough one for sure. My mom was rushed to the hospital and I was thrown into the reality that I could've lost her forever on Monday night. It wasn't fun, but thankfully she is at home and okay now.

I had a good friend of mine's cochlear implant actually go out like the recall predicted. She's got the exact same model as mine and she's gonna have to go to the hospital and receive another surgery to get another internal piece. I feel awful for her because she's literally sitting in silence right now while mine still works, and the outage could've just as easily been mine as it was hers.

I had somebody in the class above me from high school die mysteriously right by my house in Edmond, she had a terrible car accident and passed away.

It was hard this week, but I had to keep looking at the positives that are given to me within my daily life. Yes, there is a risk that my cochlear implant will go out just like my friends, but that is no reason to get upset or to be upset with Cochlear about it. I'm really thankful that my cochlear implant has lent me the ability to hear for the time that it has and I'm thankful for the ability to hear while I have it. If it does decide to go out, I'll get another one!

I'm even more thankful for my family now that I've been shown how easy it would be for one of my family members to be jerked from my life. It was that coupled with a friend from high school dying that really freaked me out. It really taught me the lesson that life is short and I need to appreciate every little thing I have because I never know when my situation will change. I try to treat every person I come across in life with the most respect I can. If they are rude, I pray for them, even if it is sarcastic. I'm hoping God gets some kind of humor from my prayers. It seems to work.

I try not to hold grudges about things. Because more than likely, the grudge is stupid. Life is so short and we all have such short times with each other. It is so stupid to spend our time with each other angry and rude. Frustrations only make our attitudes negative instead of positive. Even if I feel like my anger or frustrations are valid, I try to just overcome them so that I may be able to preserve a friendship with the other person.

A good example was the other day, somebody grabbed my cochlear implant off of my ear and hid it from me. I believe I had every right to be angry and tell them off, but what good would that do? I got it back, it was fine, the worst thing that happened was that I was deaf for 2 minutes.

Well... I was deaf for 19 years before I got the implant, so big deal.

My point that I'm trying to make is that I try to calm down before I speak so that I don't do something I'll regret. Many people don't understand deaf people or cochlear implants. By getting angry and throwing a fit, that doesn't benefit anybody. They will immediately shut off anything I say. By staying calm, maybe somebody will actually learn something. I try and educate people everyday, because as anybody that knows me should understand, there is more to deaf people than sign language and interpreters.

I hope that somebody gained a lesson as I have from this hellish week, I'm hoping next week is a little bit calmer. My Youtube video has gained tremendous popularity since about two weeks ago, which is awesome! I think it is great that people are interested and are learning about cochlear implant activations.


Have a good weekend guys!

Connor