After My 2019 Stroke, I Learned: Surviving Isn’t the Same as Living In 2019, my life changed in an instant. One moment I was pushing through a “normal” day in church, and the next, I was in a hospital bed, my body refusing to cooperate, my mind racing to keep up. I had suffered a stroke. I thought the hardest part would be surviving. But I was wrong. Survival Is Only Step One When you’re in the middle of a medical crisis, all you think about is getting through it, breathing, healing, making it to the next day. The focus is on survival. And survival matters. But once the crisis is over, you’re left staring at a new reality. Your body feels different. Your energy is unpredictable. Your mind is clouded with questions about who you are now. It’s a strange, lonely place, one that many people never talk about. I survived, but I wasn’t living. I was existing. Learning to Live Again It took months, really, years, for me to realize that I had to rebuild not just my health, bu...