Challenges to the Self

Abstract

On her way to recovery after a long illness, Caroline no longer felt like the attractive, sophisticated woman she had been. “I feel like a doddering old lady,” she cried woefully. “I have no energy; I feel ugly, gnarled—like one of those old women sitting on a veranda, rocking in her chair, as if life has passed me by—I can’t fight anymore.” Trying to regain her old self seemed like too much of an effort, and for that matter she wasn’t sure that she wanted to be that person anymore.