What does it take to be the person you want to be?

Some would argue experiences open you up to new things...
...others might argue it's what stops you from experiencing them.

There's one thing I know more than anything else - people's brains are really bloody complex.
If they weren't we'd have this neurology stuff licked, we'd as a result cure epilepsy too. But it's not the case.

The epilepsy I had centred in an area where fear was triggered from. The result: The most complex, potent, non specific fear anyone could ever possibly describe. To have these petit-mal auras up to a dozen times a day wasn't unusual.
Thankfully for my longer term heath, they were exactly that. Non specific.

If you experience something which was unpleasant, then I wonder if you develop a fear to explore it again because is was specific? Maybe the fact just is, that, if you're open to new experiences, then you take a risk. You essentially open yourself up so something which could be potentially unpleasant.


It poses an interesting question, which magnified, arguably is one of the biggest questions people with epilepsy have to ask themselves on a regular basis.
- Do you open yourself up to an experience and risk unpleasant repercussions in the hope you never have to experience them, or do you never have the experiences at all?
The risks are magnified to some extent for people with epilepsy. You could have a seizure crossing the road to get to a new place you've never been before, but if you lived in a padded room incase you had that seizure, then you'll never experience anything new in your life at all.


The fact is that if you didn't take some risks, not only would you not know who the person you wanted to be was, you'd never realise your potential to be the person you do want to be.

We all overcome fear, be it as someone with petit-mal auras, or someone overcoming the fear of a more specific experience recurring. It's that, that maybe even in a small way means we can start to become the people we want to be by giving ourselves new opportunity to be open to new experiences.
It might be a simple as crossing the road, to end up opening a door for an elderly person - maybe you just want to help and that's the person you want to be. It could be as complex as letting our guard down, letting someone truly into our lives so that you become somebody's Mr or Mrs Right. Maybe the person you want to be is a mother or father, a husband or a wife.


Life is full of risks, but it's also full of reward too. The simple fact is we will all have to overcome the fear of an experience happening or recurring that is unpleasant at some point in our lives, in order to make sure we create an opportunity to be who we want to be. But there's one rule which I think everyone should go by...


When we experience unpleasantness in our lives, the trick is to get back on the bike!