Illusions of Reality

The Illusions of Reality

The only thing in my life that I can be positive about is change. Everything changes, from the moment we're born to the moment we die. Reality has many twist and turns, and our perception of reality is what shapes us to become who we are. Our life is spent on deciphering the difference between reality and not reality. This is hard to define because reality is unique to each individual.
Our environment and the people we are around shape our perception of what is real. Reality is our grip of what is true and false, right and wrong, what is real and what is not. So reality can be distorted by our belief in it. We can sincerely believe something is right, but be sincerely wrong.
The foundations of thought and imagination are laid at a very young age. Reality for the deaf and blind is that nothing exists outside of their perception. They do not yet understand object permanence, that even though an object goes out of sight, it still exists. Many children develop this knowledge around the ages of four to eight months old. I was a late bloomer; I did not acquire this until later.
When I was five years old, I was terrified of being left alone. I was afraid to ever be by myself. I had to be around other people or I would have panic attacks. Our dogs somehow had gotten out of our backyard. My mom, my sister and I got in the car and drove around the neighborhood looking for the dogs. My mother drove by our house to check if they had got back yet. My mom told me to see if the front door was unlocked. As I was walking across the front lawn, she drove away. When I was walking towards the house I didn't hear my mom tell me that she was going around the block and that she'd be right back. To say the least, I panicked. I remember running down the dusty dirt road after her brown jeep thinking that my mom left me and would never see her again. Feelings of fear and abandonment filled my body, and I ran down to the highway screaming with tears streaming... [continues]

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