How I Overcame Having Migraines

I have had to live my childhood as one that has been characterized by my having migraines. I can honestly say that I can’t remember a single school week going by in which I did not have to go visit the school nurse. Yet, I can now say that having migraines has been a blessing in my life because they were an obstacle I had to overcome which helped shaped who I am today.
Because migraines were a factor in my life that I could not control, I had to seek power by strengthening my inner recourses, so that I could find something that I could depend upon. For me that inner strength came from taking care of other people around me. By taking care of them, I felt as if I could take care of myself. I was reaching out to fix things and helping others with their problems.
Doing so helped me to change my perception of feeling frustrated and weak because I had no alternative but to give into the excruciating pain of migraines. I could now perceive of myself as strong as I could handle the responsibility of caring for others. This has given me a strong sense of importance. It has helped me to develop people skills as I play a role that focuses on the needs of other people. I like being of service, and it is why I now have 346 hours of community service. Being helpful makes me feel good about myself. A major factor that defines me is that I have a strong sense of community service and believe that we must give back to the world. I have been involved in a connections program at my school and find it very easy to gain the respect of adults around me. I have also volunteered at a hospital.
One of my all time good moments is when I here someone say, “Ziyad, that’s a great idea. I never would have thought of that.” This has the pleasant effect of making me feel that I can always come up with a better idea, the better plan in getting things done. I take pride in being a quick thinker. I like to get things done. I also feel a keen responsibility for taking charge of things to ensure that everyone does his/her assigned share, and on time.
I believe that I overcame the obstacle of having migraines when I decided I would change my focus. Instead of looking inward at my pain, I looked outward at making other people happier. Having migraines has taught me to have empathy for other people suffering. It has taught me to be humble and to think about the needs of others. It has made me consider management as a major to pursue in college in which I would be working around other people making sure that things get done right. I feel this responsibility is so engrained in me that it has now become my second nature.