Today, I’m reviewing the book "Identity Theft", written by Debra Meyerson and co-authored by Danny Zuckerman. It has validated so many of my emotions during this post-stroke rollercoaster I’m on. For anyone navigating the challenge of reclaiming, rebuilding, discovering the other sides of their identity after a life-altering event, this book says out loud what we feel.
Meyerson is a stroke survivor who guides us through her journey of loss, anger, discovery, frustration, growth, learning, accepting, rebuilding, and all that other stuff that often goes unspoken.
What I found interesting as I listened to this book is that I discovered my identity almost 8 years ago when I got sober. Yet since then, it was subsumed in outside things: my job, my relationships, my stuff, my hobbies, etc. I’m realizing that my identity which was initially uncovered almost went in to hibernation beneath my career.
Now I get to love myself more than ever and lean on the self-talk and support that I adopted in sobriety to learn how to adapt to my new invisible disability. My identity is most visible to me in meditation and mindfulness. That's where the self-love and reconnection is.
