What Makes Sunday Alive?

On Exeter's streets, spontaneous conversations often uncover stories of profound resilience, gratitude, and perspective. In this feature, we connect with Sunday to talk about what brings her days vitality and how she has navigated extraordinary hurdles.

For Sunday, feeling alive comes down to an appreciation for life's many small, beautiful details:

"Lots & lots of tiny things make me feel alive... cold crack of a white Monster energy drink in the morning! But lots of little things like the sun on my face, my friends' children's laughter, waking up & not being in pain does make me feel alive."

Opening up about the most difficult chapter of her life, Sunday shares her journey living with Trigeminal Neuralgia, a severe neurological condition:

"I had... a condition called Trigeminal Neuralgia. It's a neurological condition called the suicide disease... the level of pain that you're in is so high that it has the highest mortality rate where the disease doesn't actually kill you... I had this for about three years... couldn't work, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. A month ago they gave me an operation & they quarterised the nerve, & the pain stopped instantaneously."

Reflecting on what this experience taught her, Sunday shares her empowering core philosophy for life:

"My motto is to choose your hard, because I genuinely believe that life is always hard. If you accept there is always going to be something hard in life, what you then do is you discover that you can choose which hard you want... Yes, it's hard doing surgery, but it's harder living with a pain condition. You can apply this to anyone's life... That's so empowering."