There is a god who gave an answer, and a light, to a question I had carried for years.

“Why can’t I do things the same way as everyone else?”
“Why do people call me unfit for society?”

Before taking on this challenge I never felt it was quite this hard, quite this difficult to live.
But taking it on, feeling the walls and the headwind more strongly than ever, I found myself unusually low, asking “am I really just stupid?” — which is what finally pushed me to take the step of getting a diagnosis.

A miraculous story of being able to “accept myself” once the diagnosis was clear!

You can read that miraculous story in this post:

The record of a motorsport woman driving a life: the challenge to 14,000 km, Peking to Paris
18.08.2022
Neurodivergence is genius — accepting yourself through the medical data (with video)
/adhd-asd
I have been called “an idiot” for as long as I can remember. There are two versions of it: an affectionate “you idiot”, and the kind that unsettles me every time I hear it — “are you actually stupid?” Affectionate or full of malice, I have genuinely wondered myself why people call me that so often. And then, recently, caught up in exactly that question through a relationship, I ended up with medical data — an EEG reading — that showed I was, in fact, a genius. The backlash I felt after deciding to take this on and telling the world …

Meeting the god (the doctor) who told me severe neurodevelopmental difference equals genius pushed my whole outlook on life forward!

I decided, once and for all, that I had to find some way to pass on the gratitude overflowing in me for this god-like doctor, who saved me right before I broke down completely against that wall.

I had no personal contact details for him at all, only the hospital’s address, so — though writing letters has never come easily to me — I wrote him a thank-you letter with everything I had, driven by nothing but the wish to pass on my gratitude …

And then — a reply came back from that very god!!!!

What was written there was not some routine, formal reply, but words full of the doctor’s own warm character, wonderful words that made me almost too happy to bear.

Below, the letter from the god (the doctor).
Reproduced here exactly as written.

“Ms Kokonno has stayed with me very clearly. It is I, the one examining you, who came away with more energy than I gave. In that hour I feel I was enjoying our conversation not as a doctor but simply as one human being talking with Ms Kokonno.

I have read your blog and your company’s website. Seeing you live so vividly while carrying so many struggles moved me, and I found myself genuinely wanting to back your life.

I sincerely wish the phrase ‘unfit for society’ would disappear from this world.

Just as some people have food allergies, there are societies, places and values that simply do not suit a given person.

Force yourself to stay somewhere that does not fit, and a kind of misalignment builds up, and life becomes hard to bear.

Nothing matters more than finding the place where you, yourself, can shine brightest.

Difficulty and headwinds come with any place. I believe someone like you, Ms Kokonno, has the strength to turn every bit of it into positive energy.

‘A life turns into a wonderful story depending on who you meet’ — I felt exactly that, meeting you too.

Let’s enjoy this one life of ours to the full! I look forward to everything still ahead of you.”

Neurodevelopmental difference is “a gift from God”

Reading the doctor’s (the god’s) reply through to the end, I could believe that all over again.

We stood in the roles of doctor and patient, but meeting this doctor, this time, is a treasure of mine.

He told me he is leaving the clinic in November, but I believe his word that he will stay in touch, and I hold on to the hope of meeting him again one day.

“A life turns hardship and sorrow both into a wonderful story, depending on who you meet.”

I would be genuinely glad if this experience of mine is of use to somebody.