I’ve always identified with my thinking—I have value because I’m smart. Turns out, as with all attachment, this is a mistake.

I experienced a period of severe cognitive deficit while recovering from a medical episode. We didn't know whether it would be permanent or not. I also discovered - as a fellow my-IQ-is-my-identity person - that it didn't matter anywhere near as much as I'd have expected it would. I was still able to experience love, and joy, and humour. Some things sucked, and were frustrating, like not being able to retain enough information to read a moderately-complex piece of prose, but the point is that I still felt like myself, even at a very low cognitive level. I'm immensely comforted. I expect I'll experience that again, as I (hopefully!) age, but it holds no particular terror anymore.