Life is pretty straightforward. It doesn’t come with a manual, but by the time you hit your 20s, the roadmap is pretty clear.
For most of us, you spend your whole life working, building a family, and amassing a small fortune in the hopes that one day you’ll be able to stop working, stop worrying about money, and start really enjoying life.
You spend those post-working years with friends and family. You spend some time traveling. You take up a hobby. You stop pining for things. Your golden years come at a time when you’re old enough to appreciate just how wonderful it all can be.
Alzheimer’s Disease is a horrible thing. It has taken from my grandfather what should have been some of the best years of his life. And because there’s a genetic component to this all, I’m pretty sure there’s a time bomb sitting in my brain too.
Alanna Shaikh is in the same boat. She gives a TED talk about the changes she’s making in her life today to ensure that if and when she ever loses her marbles she’ll have given herself enough of a mental and physical boost that she’ll at least be happy at a time when her brain will struggle to understand what happy even is.
“I need a heart so pure that if it’s stripped bare by dementia, it will survive.”