This morning I struggle to sit at the desk and type. I struggle with this very simple task because the world is moving around when it shouldn’t. Vertigo has struck with a vengeance and my inner ear is a casualty in the war. We rarely think about our inner ear and our vestibular system, parts of the body just work and we never give it a first or second thought. We never give a moment of our time to think about sitting or standing or moving. We just do it. It’s only when they cease to function properly that we understand how intricate and complex the human body is. It’s only when these things cease to function that we understand how hard it is to do everyday tasks.

This week I have been eating meclizine (dramamine’s nasty tasting cousin) like it’s candy. I feel as if I’m stuck in the vortex of a vertigo tornado with a teeny tiny bitter pill as my sole lifeline to sanity. At this point, without the meclizine, I would likely be a 5 foot 8 inch ball of goo. Sitting up, walking, moving, bending, turning, and driving have been a struggle if not downright impossible at times over the past week. I’m so invested in controlling the vestibular part of my life that I’m distracted and exhausted. This vestibular foundation for everyday tasks is crumbling beneath my feet. Putting one foot in front of the other takes Herculean efforts and the rather mundane tasks of life have been thrown into disarray. Everything else in life has been put on hold while I cling by my fingernails to terra firma.

Today I am thinking of the child who perceives the world in a very different way. Today I can empathize with the child who has no hold on a world spinning out of control. Life moves on without me at the moment. I am waiting for the carousel to stop spinning so I can get on with everyday life but what about the child whose carousel never stops? Consider what life must be like for that child? Sitting at a desk, writing during English, calculating through math, running throughout PE, eating in the cafeteria, and holding a conversation become insurmountable burdens in an already overburdened life.

Think of this child in your classroom, in your home, in your clinic, or in your community and take a second to identify with this child’s life. His or her perception of the world is drastically different than your own. What comes naturally to you only comes to this child through an exhaustive struggle.