Hope and positivity were not what drove me to wean myself from pain medications, or to relearn to feed myself, or to overcome the indignity I felt at having others bathe and clothe me. They’re not what helped me survive what I lost. I never found light in the chasm of pain. What I did find was the deepest, most lightless void in myself. A place where the man I once knew faded away, and a new one took shape.
