05/16/2026
The Demon That Lives in My Mind…
There is a demon that lives in my mind. I didn’t invite it, and I can’t make it leave. It lurks in the shadows, waiting, watching, feeding off my thoughts, my memories, my identity.
At first, I thought I could fight it. I believed that with enough willpower, I could push it down, starve it, beat it back into the darkness. But brain injuries don’t work that way. You don’t fight them, you survive them. And survival comes at a cost.
The demon stole pieces of me. It started with the little things, words that used to come easily now catch in my throat. Simple tasks turn into puzzles with missing pieces. Conversations slip through my fingers like sand. I see the way people look at me, the way they hesitate, the way their smiles falter when I forget something I shouldn’t. I laugh it off, but the demon is laughing too.
Then it takes more. It crushes my emotions, grinding them into dust until I can’t feel happiness, can’t feel connection. I watch my family struggle to understand me, to reach me, but I am trapped behind glass…watching, analyzing, but never truly feeling. The demon whispers in my ear: They don’t understand you. They never will.
It rips through relationships, leaving them frayed and fragile. Friends drift away, unsure of how to handle the version of me that exists now. Family members grow exhausted from trying to pull me back into the world. The demon feeds on their frustration, twisting their words, filling the silence with doubt. You are a burden, it hisses. They would be better off without you.
And sometimes, I believe it.
But here’s the thing about demons, they only win if you let them.
I don’t fight mine anymore. I don’t give it power by pretending it isn’t there. Instead, I acknowledge it, try to understand it, and work around it. I build new pathways in my mind, create new ways of living, adapt to what I have instead of mourning what I lost. The demon still whispers, still lurks in the corners, but it does not define me.
I have lost pieces of myself, but I am still here. And as long as I am here, the demon hasn’t won.
