"Becoming Me" Text Set

Christine Hyung-Oak Lee’s "I Had a Stroke at 33,” is the story of how Christine Hyung-Oak Lee’s stroke completely changed her life. Christine not only lost material/physical aspects of her life, but she literally lost a piece of her brain along with herself. She needed to relearn how to live her life with a missing part of her brain that was responsible for memory, coping mechanisms, etc. As soon as I started reading this article I was hooked and invested in her story. The article completely took me on a journey of her after her stroke and how her short-term memory affected her everyday life. What surprised me the most was that once she was starting to do better and was even pregnant she got a divorce because her husband had an affair. I understand that it would be difficult for her partner to navigate this new life with her and it would cause some disturbance in the relationship, but having an affair was probably the cruelest thing he could have done to her. At a time when she needed support, he felt like that year changed the way he felt about her rather than being her support after having a stroke, finding out she had a hole in her heart and having a piece of her brain die. “Because yes, it was the year my life changed; it was the year my life was saved. It was the year I decided to live every year as if it were my last.” (Lee). This particular quote from the article stuck with me because her traumatic event led to her living her best life and living it to the fullest. I can relate to this because during the pandemic I had a lot of time to reflect on how much of life I was missing out on because of silly reasons like insecurities, fear, or overthinking. So once it was safe to be outside and I was going back to high school, I made a pledge to myself that I would live my best life because it could be taken away from me in a second. In the video “Intro into Intersectionality,” I realized how different identities come into play with each other and the effects they have. Being able to realize that is important to my essay because then when writing I will be able to connect my identity to one another and see their effects. As well, in the video, one part that stuck out to me was how “social conditioning has an impact on how we see ourselves and others”(Crenshaw). I feel like now in the age where technology is at an all-time high, social conditioning with the media is prevalent. This means more ideas can be spread that affect the way we view ourselves and others. I know for the media has had a huge impact on the way I view myself, which is something I can talk about in my essay.