Recently, a paralyzed man was able to write using his thoughts.
Ten years after the man they called “T5” was utterly paralyzed, researchers planted a robot in the part of his brain that controls movement. That long after losing the use of his body, they weren’t sure his brain would remember how to move at all.
But it did. When the man imagined handwriting the alphabet, his brain started to light up, and the robot living in there began to learn.
Over many months they grew closer, until the robot knew him well enough to read his thoughts.
Eventually, they hooked him up to a screen and told him to copy some words, until he could do that to their satisfaction. Then they asked him what advice he would give to his younger self.
“Be patient. It will get better,” he wrote.
Even when things get unimaginably difficult, when we are trapped and scared and defeated, we can at least take comfort in knowing that things will always change.
And often a lot sooner than we think.