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The Positivity Thread

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That is a great quote from Eckhart Tolle, the guy who wrote The Power of Now. It is wisdom indeed. The idea is quite similar to Dr. Nagler's Letter to a Tinnitus Sufferer. The same situation, same stimulus, can cause different response depending on how we interpret the stimulus. A hot chilli pepper can be a poison from hell for some who don't like spicy food, or it can be heavenly sensation for spicy food lovers. The same spicy stimulus, but the brain can consider the sensation a total pleasure for some and yet utterly unbearable for others. So the brain is not fixed on how to react unless you tell it to. Some people like rock climbing and have a high just thinking of doing it. Others say no way they will risk the height. The same situation and once again different response.

I went fishing for the mighty king (chinook) salmon today at a spot beyond the town of Hope on the mighty Fraser River. So my fishing must be 'beyond hope', LOL. Tinnitus rang loud as usual in the morning but the heck with it and off I went. It was a stormy day with gale force wind and blinding rain. The wind was so strong I would wobble walking along the river gravel bar and I had trouble keeping the rod up with the blinding rain and the gusty wind. There were only a few souls around. If it is a sunny day, the place would be crowded. But today it was deserted. Many people don't like tough fishing (king salmon is very hard to catch) under even tougher stormy weather. But I LOVE IT. I like to feel the power of nature and in close touch with the elements. Such things bring me joy (and food too, as I overcame the odds and landed a 18 lb salmon on that stormy day). I will love to be a storm chaser if I live in the 'tornado alley' of the United States. Don't ask me why. Just how I like to be in touch with nature, even feeling its rage. That gives me a true sense of unison with nature. That is why I even go outdoor fishing in rain & snow for steelhead in winter.

What I am saying is that the brain is trainable and it can adapt to accept (if not like) a certain unpleasant situation. If you don't emotionally oppose/resist the situation, if you keep on giving positive suggestions to the brain, the brain will find its way to co-operate with you. It may trail behind your will power, but it can catch up and moderate its reaction. I find this is exactly what happen with my habituation to T. It freaked me out pretty bad at first, but I kept repeating positive affirmation to let the brain know that T is harmless (be it annoying), and that given time and with positive attitude, I will be able to accept T and have a peaceful co-existence with it. And it does. Now, my brain doesn't react to T high or low. It has hardened to the sound which it considers not a threat (as I have repeatedly and affirmatively told it so all along without fail). So be positive and let positivity rule your life. Sooner or later, T will be a non-issue.
 
I agree with billie48. I have a constant low T 24/7. It used to bother me, but I have gotten to the point that I just don't seem bothered by it.

What I am working on now, is the spikes. They can get very loud at times. My goal is to become less and less bothered by them. To accept them for what they are.
 
Hi Billie & Teri, agree with you both. It was Dr. Nagler's Letter to a Tinnitus Sufferer that has gotten me on the road to recovery. Habituation has started, every day the T bothers me less and less. When I ran across Eckhart Tolle' quote I felt compelled to post it here.
 
This Sunday was awesome. Not T whole day. It turned on around 9pm and then turned off 9.15pm and nothing till 10am. Great experience. Heaven!!! Question is is it can be on and off what is the problem then?
 
For many of us T just stays with us for life. It may ring @$%^#*& loud any day. Are we going to waste our life over it? So it is important to have a good mental approach to face the setbacks. Don't let setbacks send you back to the mental black hole again and again. I made a post about choosing positivity over negativity in another thread which I c&P below. I think it may help others deal with setbacks.

So the choice is there. A) Accept it and move on, and B) suffer and in misery for the rest of our ringing life?
Choosing B seems to fit our rant temporarily. But if A will give you a much better quality of life, and perhaps a high % of overcoming T, why not A then?

In my journey with T & H, I had 2 heroines and their stories I particularly like. They are role models in my struggle to overcome the T challenge. One was a pretty young lady Zoe. She made a tinnitus film which you can view in youtube. A few years back when I was new with T, she came to Yuku forum to inform the members there about the film. In the process, she disclosed that she became deaf at a young age of 15. Her T was unmaskable due to the deafness. She said at first it made *#(*^%@ of a life for her. She said she had to make a decision. A, accept the ringing and try to enjoy life regardless of T, or B, live the rest of her young life in misery. She said her choice of A is obvious. Who wants to spend the rest of life in misery? It is reality set in for her and she chose A wisely. She said her T is really *@#%^&* and unmaskable. But what else can she do except to move on with life and try to make peace with T. Wise choice. She did just that. She even went on to university where she made her tinnitus film. Her story inspires me to make the right choice fast. Acceptance! Acceptance! and Acceptance! What else have I got to lose?

I also read the story of a young lady jazz singer Melody Gardot. Besides severe T & H, at the young age of 19 she was hit by a SUV while biking which did massive damage to her body. She was in hospital for a long time struggling with incredible pain. Even to this day, she is limping on a cane. She also has to wear sunglasses everywhere due to ultra sensitivity to light. You would think she would quit on life with not just T & H but so much more challenges. Not so. She chooses positivity over negativity, A over B. She never quits in the face of adversities, and moves on with a booming singing career doing shows all over the world. She is an inspiration to me as someone who embraces positivity and excel regardless of the challenge she faces.

So given choice A & B, let's make the right choice fast. Why prolong the agony? Eckhart Tolle, the author of the Power of Now, talking about the role of the crooked ego and twisted mind, reveals a point which really dawns on me what went wrong with me and my problem with anxiety/panic disorder. He said & I paraphrase that the ego & the twisted mind of ours often tend to mislead us that by negativity, by reacting emotionally, we can somehow solve the problems we face. Isn't that true for the most of us. Perhaps this is coming from the days we were babies and toddlers. By crying and acting emotionally & negatively, we somehow learned that help will come and problem will be solved for us (by our parents, grandparents). This primordial instinct may linger on even when we are adult. So when crisis as bad as T hit us, and when the doctors can't help us, the negativity, the crying, the negative emotions are in full display.

Yet we know such negativity will be futile against a formidable & non-passionate object as T. It doesn't care how bad shape you are in. In fact, the more negative, the more louder and intrusive it seems. So what choice do we have? I guess reality needs to set in at some point. Change course, from negativity to positivity. It can only help you and doesn't cost you anything. Why not? It makes perfect sense. Fight back with positivity in your life until you bury that T bully. Go enjoy your life abundantly. It doesn't hurt. Let T be. Let the rest of your life be. You can still have a good life even after T. I know it is doable. I am living it. A few years back I never thought good life could be back again after T. But I am a believer now. May the force of positivity be with you.
 
I have posted on another thread about POSTIVITY in the NOW which I thought should be kept here in this Positivity thread for newer sufferers to read. You see, most newer suferers have a great anxiety about their tinnitus (T). This fear is quite normal. I believe this fear has been in the mind of most of us when our T suffering was at its peak initially. Can we cope with this T beast for life? Can the ringing loudness get worse? How bad can it get? Will that lead to insanity or cause us to do the unthinkable? FEAR or better word for this PHOBIA is the driving force behind all these questions. Fear about the uncertain future of intense suffering and the mental stresses caused by this lingering fear is a kind of cognitive distortion which can be helped by changing to Positivity in the Now, the very moment in front of us. Let me explain.

For me, a person who has suffered anxiety and panic disorder for decades prior to my ultra high pitch dog whistle T and severe hyperacusis, this unsettling question created nothing but episodes of repeated anxiety and panic attacks. At some point the suffering was so intense I began to question this, "why the heck I was living like hell before I actually get there?" Why I am paying the price before it happens? Then I learned the concept of "NOW" from the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I realize how wrong I was. I realize that the past is history, the future, however uncertain, is not yet a reality, but NOW is the only moment in life that I can do something about, something I can have some control to change it for the better. This the only moment I can turn it from negativity to positivity. All the plans, the dreams, even the fears for something in the future may not ever happen the way we envisioned. Just pity those poor passengers on those two Malaysian Airline planes. Their plans & dreams were abruptly cut short. Their fears for anything else never materialize because something tragic just came and wiped everything to nothing. Likewise so many people died from car and other accidents, natural disasters. No one can predict such things.

What I am saying is that the future is a total uncertainty nor reality. You can bet that a high % of people make it to old age with no major disasters nor critical health challenges. They graciously live out their lives with family and friends until their mortality runs its course. So I thought why worry so much for the future to the point of it is hurting my health, such that I couldn't even enjoy the NOW, the very moment in front of me. Life is short. Each passing moment of negativity is a wasted moment. From such a realization, I decided to choose positivity over negativity in things pertaining to now.

As I am typing on the subject of T, I can hear it blasting loud. It is over everything in my environment. If I had chosen to monitor it, focus on it, and get sad over such a crazy shrill packed with so much condensed energy like a laser beam, if I had decided my life is unbearable with this incredible high energy scream, and justify this thinking by following it with nothing but sad thought, yes, my moment of NOW will be all clouded up by sadness, by fear, by depression just like the old days.

But instead I am spending time here helping some T sufferers, a meaningful task in my life, and after this typing I will be setting up for tomorrow morning's fishing trip with a friend and his two sons, all newbies to king salmon fishing. I am going to help them have the thrill of their life with a 20 to 30 lb fish dancing on their lines which they never had before. Their happy moments will be my motivation. And 2 days after that will be our family bbq day. Oh I forget I will do some u-pick blueberry before that to give my children and grandchildren the best and freshest berries they never have before. And I will be on these T forums as well as NBA forums about my favourite teams and players. I will be on all my favourite shows and movies. Last night just watched the Transformer 3 again to witness the wonder of modern day CG, the special effects that make these fantasies so real, ya, the Autobots Bumblebee, Optimus Prime etc kicking butt the Decepticons. So good and so fun and truly amazing how technology can make these cartoon characters so real. In a few days I need to brush up my ballroom dances so I can take my honey to join my daughter and her husband on a dinner and dance evening. The is so much in life other than T. There is still the good life after T.

What I am saying is, the heck with T. The heck with the future. I don't know about others, but for me, the current moment, the NOW is all I can control. I will pack it with so much fun, meaning & positivity that T and its negativity will be overrun or buried. The future? Heck, who knows Heaven forbids my next flight will be some disaster like the MA flights, or that any time in the next 200 years Vancouver will be hit by a magnitude 9 earthquake as the scientists have been predicting, or that I will be a road statistics sometime in the future, or that my T will be so loud I prefer to doze myself out of reality. The heck with these uncertainties. The NOW is the only certainty I can deal with and change it for the better. I have learned to not let the future ruin the present. That is just me. I believe that if I can turn every NOW moment from negativity to positivity, then the collective result of these positive NOW moments will change the quality of my life now and the future. It has done just that so far. Instead of focusing on uncertainty, I micro-manage each NOW moment with positive certainty. This is the power of NOW. May you find joy in life regardless of T, high or low, now or future. Try finding joy amid the pain, try living life abundantly in the NOW. Life is short. Don't let T rob us of the joy of life.
 
Hi, sorry I have been gone for a long while, good news for the new comers of this blog, I have habituated despite my t being so loud, I hear it but it doesn bother me anymore, my therepy was work, I have not followed aby doctors advise, I eat and drink anything I want and the t does not go up or down, I live a normal life now and I encourage all of u to do the same, it takes time but will get used to it....force yourself to hear it and adjust to it, it will leave u alone psychologiclly, its hard at first but very well possible, if I can do it, u all can!
 
I honestly dont believe any doctors since they know nothing about it, nor thrre is any treatments, habituate and u will aquire the peace u been longing, I have anxyety attacks,stress and was very scared at first, but now its just another day like any other, dont give up new sufferers, u WILL make it, I promise u,i quit trying to find a cure, there is none, nor any treatments, its a waste of money, live and enjoy urselves, it works, life is good!
 
I honestly dont believe any doctors since they know nothing about it, nor thrre is any treatments, habituate and u will aquire the peace u been longing, I have anxyety attacks,stress and was very scared at first, but now its just another day like any other, dont give up new sufferers, u WILL make it, I promise u,i quit trying to find a cure, there is none, nor any treatments, its a waste of money, live and enjoy urselves, it works, life is good!

I totally agree with you. ENT doctor is completely useless unless you have a serious problem. I have been living with T since June 13 2014 and somehow I live. I ignore it and when I hear it I say to myself "Ahh, you still here, soon you will disappear, although i have no idea where you coming from". I wish i could know why and what is the main cause of it, but i cannot find that out, so i just live and enjoy my life. Initially i lost passion to everything. Now, I am regaining it and do stuff i like together with my dear friend T. Its just live. Just look at the person on the wheelchair and your T becomes nothing!!! For me reading about T is very helpful and like I said before Jastreboof model servers me well.

Today is another great day to enjoy.
 
Yes indeed my friend, life is good, its just a matter of time, like everything else, it will all be ok, time is our best alyed, you just have to listen to t and accept it as part of your life, then will you be able to go on, I got my onset march 10th 2014 and look, im still here enjoying life with my kids, work,stress,anxyety and an endless list of problems, not to mention that I live in a mexican warzone where cartels are killing each other on the daily basis, listening to ur t and time is the key to overcome it along with your job, is the best therapy, ENT doctors are a joke when it comes to t, they know nothing about it and they give you a so called treatment with pills that are more harmfull than helpfull just to get your money, no antidepressant or sleeping pills will gain you nothing but harm your precious body, encourage yourself and look at people aroud you, happy, the most amazing thing is that all these people that you know have either t or know somebody with it, it is that common now a days, I persanally know a bunch that I never knew had t, its amazing the quantity of people I know that have it and I never knew, including my dad and 2 sisters lol, I promise u all sufferers you will even make a joke out of it eventually, God bless you all and wish you a full recovery!
 
I slept for a solid eight hours on Saturday night (sans medicine), and spent Sunday with my boyfriend's family with the T barely noticeable. Having trouble sleeping now but it's clear that days of being unaffected by T ARE possible, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure I have as many as possible!
 
Hi All,

Good posts Raymundo! You are dead right.

I've had T for just over a year, and have been part of this community since November. It's helped me.
Mine started in July 2013. Jet engine type, 24/7. Had a really bad few months, then ever so gradually, things started to get ...better. My T cycled between a few really load days and a few quieter ones, always resetting at night.
The last months for me have been really good. I think the noise has decreased in volume, the louder days have been fewer and the quieter days more common. My brain has "hardened" to it. Don't get me wrong, the T is still there, and I wish it wasn't, but I go for ages without noticing it, and when I do stop to listen, its more of an impartial observation than an emotive recognition. I'm happy that despite the earlier horror, I kept on doing stuff like being a Dad, Husband, Friend, Co-worker, keeping on exercising and other stuff. It was really hard as the noise was so loud, and so endless. But I did it. I couldn't find a single thing that made any difference to the T, except time. So, to give some hope to some others, the ordeal of tinnitus can settle down - but I think one really must keep being who they are and do the stuff that they do.

All the best.
 
Hi all!

I haven't been here in so long I can't even remember! I just wanted to say hello and that I wish everyone well.

As for my T, it's still here, but I only am conscience of it when I'm trying to fall asleep. I can hear it at all times of day if I listen for it, but I don listen for it any more. There's no point to it.

(((Hugs to you all)))
 
Hi all!

I haven't been here in so long I can't even remember! I just wanted to say hello and that I wish everyone well.

As for my T, it's still here, but I only am conscience of it when I'm trying to fall asleep. I can hear it at all times of day if I listen for it, but I don listen for it any more. There's no point to it.

(((Hugs to you all)))

Thanks for checking back in. I hope to get where you are. Misery loves company.... so I should be there soon. Bad pun, I couldn't help myself.
 
Went fishing today. Loud boat. T screaming as usual. Plugs in. Had an awesome time. Striped bass for dinner tonight!

Good one, wasashore. I went fishing also today and got my 2 prime sockeye or red salmon. Good weather and great fishing. Life is good, T high or low. Don't care about it whatsoever. Also went to do u-pick blue berries with the whole family, teaching my little grandchildren how to pick the best ones. They love it. We had a blast and the blue berries are so good freshly picked. Live and enjoy life. Let T be. Let the rest of the good life be. When you pour so much meaning and positivity into your life, T and its negativity will get less & less attention from the brain.
 
Hey, im not dead lol!, but I will tell you what, I know this lady that had the jet engine T and she found out she had fungus on her ear drum, she got some ether pearls which is what doctors in mexico call them, and in three days her fungus and jet engine T was gone for ever, try it, it mignt just be that....!
 
I have had T for about 3 month now and already i feel normal again. Ringing is there but doesnt bother me (well ive had one bad day in thr last month) anyone thats new to T it DOES get better... well it doesnt get better but honestly you just find yourself not noticing it and not letting it bother you.

Look at my first few posts on TTalk i was a MESS, Distraught all the time. I honestly cant remember how that felt now, i really do feel pretty normal again. Only difficulty is that im a little hard of hearing due to my hearing loss in my right ear.

POSITIVITY PEOPLE

<3 Caff x
 
It is nice to have a positive thread to talk about the positives. Life can still be very enjoyable after T, especially if you finally make peace with T. Let T be. Let the rest of your good life be. Live life enjoyably and abundantly to bury the T sufferings if any. Way back I thought no way I could have a good life again with the mad ultra high pitch scream in my ears. But today I am living an absolutely enjoyable life amid the scream of dog whistle which usually wake me up most morning. The brain just doesn't give a dime to T high or low. Given time, the brain has hardened to this strange & alien sensation. It is a miracle turnaround I never thought possible a few years back.

So the heck with the screaming T, I decide to enjoy my life and took the family and grandchildren to pick blue berries in season now in Vancouver area. All you can pick (and all you can eat along the way of course, heehee) of big succulent berries. They are so good to pick and eat fresh from the berry bushes. The grandchildren were so excited as I showed them how to pick the biggest and juiciest ones. We took memory pictures together there. Then today I took my son-in-law and my oldest grandson to sockeye fishing. It is their first time in life to try for sockeye salmon. It was a slow day for salmon, but my grandson Joshua had a blast catching the little pike minnow along the river's edge. He must have caught over a dozen and was so excited of the new experience. I taught my son-in-law how to fish for sockeye. Well the young guy has lots to learn. He didn't catch any but I caught 4 and had our limit. Then we enjoy a yummy dinner. We toasted each other over the success of the day. What a way to end the day. Life is GOOD. Where is T all this time? Well it was screaming out of its lung, but honestly now after a few years with this alien, I don't give a dime and with that the brain just fades it out of consciousness most of the time. It is the end of its tyranny over me. I will try to live my heaven while T can go to hell.
 
I had mild tinnitus for 2 weeks. It felt like I almost habituated. It was there but I was able to sleep and do all the stuff. It was still high frequency but low volume until yesterday. Out of nowhere its volume went up and 2 nights with no sleep or bad sleep. Thx god for those two positive weeks. Sometimes I feel like I want to kill the T, but cannot find him to complete the execution.
 
These are setbacks which are quite common. The trick is not let setbacks really set you back into another emotional black hole every time they happen. It is great you have two positive weeks. Your T is so new and you already have 2 positive weeks. Count that as a positive and move on. It can only get better and better with time.
 
Hi, @demi,

This is a great idea!! Thanks for starting this thread; I hope lots of people will comment with positive stories and suggestions.

I have a positive comment: While my tinnitus is not gone, I have recently habituated to it quite a bit. It took me longer this time than last time, because of the severity of my tinnitus and the fact that I also have pulsatile tinnitus.
But now, it truly looks like things are going in the right direction!

Everyone, please take heart; habituation is a process that may take time. You can't expect it to happen overnight, but it WILL happen if you let it!

I wish everyone hugs and a calm, quiet day. Think positive thoughts, and life will begin to look better!


Hi ,


My name is Usha Meister. I live in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.


In 2003 December I had been to Barbados for a vacation and first time went into the beautiful warm waters just to try my hand at snorkeling. I did not even dip my head deep enough as I am afraid of swimming but this small little dip i too resulted in an ear infection. MY doctor gave me an antibiotic which started a slight buzzing sound in my left ear. I noticed this and immediately told my doctor and she took me off it.


This was my first experience with the bizarre sound . In February of 2004 I went to see an audiologist who very rudely dismissed it off as " You may have something called Tinnitus and there is not much you can do for it and you have to live with it"


Well, I though there you go . This is a life sentence. But early of February 2004 the same noise that was there suddenly subsided and it was just silent hiss.


Following that a few days later We had a rear ending of a car accident I had a whip lash and that very day the screeches I had came back full blast. It got progressively worse.


That May 2004 I went to Oregon Tinnitus Centre, and was tested and told my screeches were in the 18,000 mhz region and it was the top 3% worst cases. I came back totally devastated . Following that I spoke to DR. Jack Vernon ( for almost an hour ) and that phone call changed my life completely. He is the one who had started the clinic in Oregon. For whatever reason he was my life raft at that point. I asked him point blank about how he dealt with it and how I am going to live on with this horrible sound.


In the mean time my husband who is an Associate Psychologist was doing all the research behind my back. He ordered the MOSES LANG CD which has 7 tracks. My husband came up with a comprehensive Cognitive Behavior Strategy management list which i pinned right in front of me. I read it over and over again. I also listened to Dr. Vernon advise to me to listen, identify the sound that matched mine and listen to it whenever the screeches got real bad. And also his advise was to just ignore it.


Well it is 2014 now ( 10 yrs later), I still have the Tinnitus but rather than it controlling me i have total control of how i react to the sound. If I ignore it, it just goes back into a hiss, if it gets bad then i listen to the 2 tracks that match my T and track 4 and 6 are the ones that match my sound. I just listen to it for about 45 mins and it gives me weeks of happiness as the sound just subsides and goes almost to a nonexistent sound.


Bottom line is I just live with it and hardly give it any power. I always think that nothing can upset me least of all a T. I have a very supportive spouse and he is my life line. I used to complain a lot about the Tinnitus sounds almost a couple of times a day, and also be miserable. Following his cheat sheet of behavior modification on Tinnitus Management helps me a lot.


1st Rule: Don't give life to something that you don't want to control you

2nd Rule: Ignore and move on..If your sound gets bad - do something you like , like listening to music ( Leonard Cohen helped me a lot - He is one of my life lines - I listen to his complete CD and the T just disappears

3rd rule: Listen to Moses Lang CD ( which I purchased on-line ) and i have copies of the MP3 on my little I tune carrier and i listen to it ( This honestly gives me many weeks of silence like the challenged T does not want any contenders to it)

He gave me a whole list of other things to follow to help overcome T when it gets real bad.


Today, since that car accident, I have had breast cancer, concussion following bad fall at Marriott Aruba Surf club ( where i lost over 1.5 yrs of my life as i cld hardly remember anything).. but one thing i knew and made me aware was the sound early morning ( which is just a mild hiss tells me I AM ALIVE.


I am happy to have gone through a lot of major illnesses and still not a a negative person.

I love life and will not let anything or anyone if my life ruin it for me.


If you have problems with your T , yes mindfulness is one of the items my husband recommended 10 yrs back in his CBT list for me.. Being aware that it is there and how you respond to it is all that matters. I find that when i have a couple of glasses of red wine I don't even notice it.. So do things you enjoy and be happy as those are the only things that help this dreaded ailment that so many are afflicted with.


I will not have any surgery nor will i take any medication as I would like to control how i deal with it.


Please listen to your favorite music , or any new singer with a drone like voice Leonard Cohen ) i am a great fan of his so for me his music does wonders)> I am sure you can find similar music that can change your life.


Good luck all
Usha Meister
 
Usha,

Yours is truly a success story! The fact that you have been through so much and survived is a testament to your strength and positive attitude. Thank you for all the great information and suggestions; I'm sure you will help many tinnitus sufferers through your great attitude and spirit.

Many thanks,
Karen
 
Thank you Usha for the wonderful, positive post. It is a great success story worthy of a place in the Success Story forum.
 
I am newbie when it comes to T but I do admire all of you for what you are going through or had to go through. So many people here suffering so much but their love to life is so strong that they are able to overcome any obstacles caused by T.
I wish T-free people would share only 10 of T sufferers feelings!!!
All the best to you Usha!!!
 
Sometimes when we are tired and worn down by the tough struggle with T, we need that guiding light, some uplifting example of positivity to help us soldier on our journey with T. As requested by a forum member,I want to post the positive story of Zoe here in the Positivity Thread. Hopefully, you can gain some inspiration from this pretty young lady.

This is a tinnitus short film made by a young European lady Zoe Cartwright. She went to the Yuku forum many years ago to introduce her film when I was new with T. She made the film as a university project. She is an inspiration to me in my struggle with tinnitus, prompting me to accept the reality of my T regardless of the impossibility and reluctance. I figured that if this young pretty girl can overcome such an incredible challenge of her unmaskable loud T and total deafness, then I should have more faith in myself to be able to overcome my own T.

She told us her story that she turned completely deaf at young 15. It would have been easier for someone born with deafness. Yet a young, vibrant pretty girl having to face such sudden change in her life? It must have been devastating to say the least. Then she is hit with this loud T. Her T is unmaskable due to her deafness. How tough is it to handle the loud scream without any ability to mask and face a whole life of this horrible sound w/o any other sounds? I don't even want to think about that possibility for myself and it sends chill through my spine to even think of it. I admire her courage and stamina. What impresses me most is her wise decision to accept the reality of her unmaskable T, however loud and %(#%*^! unbearable. She said it is either acceptance or utter misery for the rest of her life, and the decision was easy for her. To accept the reality of T in one's life doesn't mean you have to like T, but that you are willing to move on, willing to peacefully co-exist with T without being swarmed by all the negative reactions and emotions. It may take time to get there but she shows me the possibility back then.

So Zoe chooses to accept her reality and move on with her young life. She said she loves the beauty of the visible world and she loves diving. That is probably why she has scenes of underwater shots. She also moved on to achieve her goal to attend university where she made her film. You may have a tough time understanding what she narrates in the film due to her accent as she is from some northern European country. But in this site, Zoe came to explain herself in the comment section and you can understand her narration better:
http://www.grumpyoldeafies.com/2008/05/film_experience_of_tinnitus.html

Here is her film and I hope you come out realizing her courage and positivity to climb this incredibly tough mountain in her young life. She has been a guiding light for me and I hope you can be inspired by her story too. I think she is a film director now:
(by the way, the film title of 24.7.52.10 means she has had her loud, unmaskable tinnitus 7/24 & 52 weeks a year for 10 years at the time of making this film)

 

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