For anyone who has ever had the rug pulled out from under them and wondered how people actually come back from that, this is the episode to listen to.

More info, resources & ways to connect - https://www.tacosfallapart.com/podcast-live-show/podcast-guests/laura-bratton

When Laura Bratton was nine years old, a doctor told her she would eventually go blind. At nine, she didn't fully grasp what that meant. By the time she was a teenager watching her vision disappear over the course of high school, she understood completely... and it nearly broke her.

In this episode, Laura opens up about what it was really like to lose her sight during the years when all you want is to be normal. No driver's license. No all-nighters before a big project. No spontaneous anything. Every assignment had to be started the day it was assigned. While her classmates were pulling the classic cram-it-all-in-the-night-before move, Laura was working through it hour by hour, day by day. The grief that came with all of that, she says, is something she still can't fully put into words.

The anxiety and depression that followed were severe. We're talking panic attacks, fog so thick she couldn't focus at school, nights so restless she felt like she was crawling out of her skin. Getting help wasn't instant or easy either... finding the right combination of medication took time and came with its own brutal side effects. But she got there.

What pulled her through wasn't toxic positivity or a "superhero" narrative. Laura actually tried both ends of that spectrum (the poor-me victim mindset and the you're-so-inspirational-and-strong version) and neither one helped. What actually worked was something in the middle: grit and gratitude. Not the push-through-and-ignore-your-feelings kind of grit. The kind where you feel the weight of what's happening, you sit with it for a minute, and then you take one small step forward anyway. And not the relentlessly chipper gratitude either. Sometimes gratitude is just falling into bed at the end of a brutal day and thinking, thank God that's over.

Today, Laura is the author of Harnessing Courage and founder of Ooby Global, where she speaks to organizations and works with individuals on navigating change without getting stuck in it. She also made history as the first blind student to graduate from Princeton Theological Seminary... though she'd probably tell you she was just focused on getting through the day.

This conversation gets real about mental health, the difference between actual support and pity, why you should never pet a guide dog without asking, and why your loved one going through something hard doesn't need you to fix it... they need you to listen.

Laura closes with something worth sitting with: in the middle of everything hard, you are enough. Even if you don't believe it right now.

Grit & Gratitude: Becoming Blind As a Teen & Finding Hope with Laura Bratton