Tag: #abi

De-stress and Relax during this tough time

With everything going on in the world right now, it is easy to have fear and be stressed. It is important to de-stress and stay healthy.

In this crazy time we are living in, it is essential to find ways to relax and de-stress. The world’s situation is changing every day. There are fear and worry in the world.

I have experienced various symptoms that are closely related to being stressed.

In a time where it is vital to stay healthy, one way to stay healthy is not to stress or be tense. This is not an easy task.

De-stress ideas

One primary way I have found to de-stress is to take time for me. I have been quarantining with my family. This means being in close quarters with others.

What you do with your time is entirely up to you. One option is to read a fiction book. Fiction books can allow you to escape to a different world.

For just part of the day, you can be in a world without the stressors of your current world.

I have also found that writing has helped me. It is better to get your feelings out and not keep them bottled up. If you are unable to talk to your loved ones about it, write it down. No one has to see it, but this will allow you to get your feelings out of your mind.

Do something creative. Drawing or coloring is quite relaxing. You can put music on or watch a show while you do it. If you are doing this activity as a relaxing activity, make sure others know not to disturb you.

Get outside. The fresh air will be good. The sunshine will provide you with natural vitamin D. Just remember to distance yourself from others and be safe.

My final suggestion is to not look at the news all the time. I have gotten into the habit of looking at the news in the morning and evening. This allows me to know what is going on in the world but not get overwhelmed or stressed about the state of the world.

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Patience: No need to get frustrated

After a brain injury, your life changes. The process of relearning everything requires patience. It is important to not be frustrated with yourself.

It can be tough to be patient with yourself when it takes longer to complete a task. This can especially be true after sustaining a brain injury.

If you sustained an injury in the middle of your life, you probably remember how easy something was to do. From what you remember, reading a book only took you a few days, but now it takes you weeks.

That is okay. Since you sustained an injury, your life is going to be different. The joy of the brain is that it can be rewired to relearn what you used to know.

The thing about the rewiring of the brain is that it takes time. It can be and will be frustrating. I have found that it can help if you break up your big goal into small feat.

If your goal is to be able to walk again, start with a simple goal; maybe it is standing or being able to take a step. Something small that progresses to your goal.

A small goal will help you see progress. It will hopefully keep your spirits up and make you know that you are making progress.

Patience: Injury before memory

If you sustained your brain injury before you have memories of before, you need a different kind of patience. The thing I have found is that my patience has come into play because people around me get things faster than I do.

It is not easy seeing your friend or little brother understand math or read a chapter book before you. For me, it was extremely frustrating.

Not matter what age you are, seeing someone close to you succeed in what you want to achieve in can
be demoralizing.

In an earlier post, I discussed how we are all on our own timelines. This stands true for life events or learning how to do a task.

Make sure you break what you want to succeed in, into breaking it up into small accomplishments. This will help you be patient with the more significant task. Patience is a virtue.

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Bedtime Routine: Relax after a long day

After a long hard day, it is important to start to wind down and get ready for bedtime. To get a good night sleep, you need to be relaxed.

After a long, hard day, I have found it necessary to have a bedtime routine. This routine helps slow your mind down and prepare you for a restful sleep.

A night of restful sleep can allow you to be ready to be productive for the next day. There are many benefits to a good night’s sleep. This routine has proven excellent for me, but it may not work for you.

Take some time for yourself to figure out a good routine to help you relax after a long day. It took me many tries to figure it out. Be patient.

Bedtime Routine: Shower

I start after dinner. To begin my routine, I take a nice warm shower. This helps wash all the dirt and grime off of me. I can feel the day washing off and begins my relaxation.

The warm water also helps relax my muscles and can help release some of the tension I gathered during my day. Another reason I find showering at night helpful, I find brushing my hair soothing.

Bedtime Routine: TV

After that, I watch an episode or two of the current show I am watching. The show allows me to escape from the happenings of my world for a bit.

If I am really into the show, I do watch more episodes. When I begin to get tired, I start writing in my journal. When I journal, I have a few different sections that I write about.

I always start my entry by writing one thing I am grateful for. This keeps me finding a good thing even after a bad day.
I then do the classic, write about my day. I write down anything memorable and I have two prompts that help my self-discovery.

These prompts are to help me figure out what I want and who I am. I write down a memory from the day that I want to remember.

Reading

Once I am done with my journaling, I turn off my show and grab a book. I always make sure I read, even if it is a few pages or half the book.

Once I am done reading, I turn off my light, do a crossword puzzle on my phone, and go to sleep. I find a bedtime routine is crucial. It helps the body know that it is time to go to bed.

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Schedule: Find normalcy during quarantine.

With the current stay at home orders, happening, schedules have changed. It is important to keep a sense of normalcy in a world of uncertainty.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, our lives and schedules have abruptly changed. Our daily routines look different. It is essential to find some sense of normalcy in your everyday life.

The idea is to work from home. For some, this can be difficult. There are many more distractions around. There is a chance that productivity can decrease.

I have found that sticking to a schedule or close to a schedule keeps me productive. If I schedule my day correctly, I can complete everything I need to do and still have time for leisure activities.

I start with a consistent wake-up time. I find that with a regular wake up time, I can plan out my day, so I know my day won’t be wasted because I slept in too long.

After I wake up, I go through my morning routine (which I will discuss in a later post). I eat breakfast and then figure out what I need to do that day. I am in school, so at the beginning of the week, I decide what needs to be done each day.

Schedule during the day

Based on the amount of work I need to get done that day, I decide when I will take a walk or do household chores. I have found that I work best when I break the homework with the housework.

Before any work begins, I shower and get dressed. It puts me in the mindset of working. I also move down to the dining room. Wherever I move to, I get off my bed.

Throughout the day, I do my homework and my schoolwork. I put my phone on silent, so I don’t have the distraction of people trying to communicate with me.

I have found an app that has made my schedule does work for 25 minutes and then take a 5-minute break. After doing 2 hours of this, I take a 15-minute break. This has proven to work for me. But you need to find a routine that makes for you.

At the end of the day, around dinner, I change into comfortable clothes and do what I feel like doing. The only scheduled thing about my night is when I go to bed. Going to bed at a consistent time allows me to wake up and not be tired.

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Change: When You Get A Bad Hand

Life can hand you a less than ideal hand. It is important to know you can change it and where to start the change. It is not easy.

Life is full of things we aren’t thrilled about it. Our job is not what we thought it would be; a friend turns out to not be a friend. Life is full of ups and downs. It is just how life happens.

We all want to change one aspect of our lives, if not more. From my experience, this is especially true when it comes to my brain injury.

No one woke up one day and decided to come home with a brain injury. It is life-changing for better and for worse. After the injury, there are things you would like to change.

Change: How to start

The first step in is figuring out what you can change and what you can’t. You can’t fix the fact you have a brain injury, but you can transform how you spend your time or how hard you work during rehab.

At first, you will want to change everything. That is an okay thing. In a matter of seconds, your life is different. It takes time to adjust. You have a new normal.

It is a difficult time in life. Once you figure out what is possible to change, it is time to put the plan into action.

It can be exciting the be ready to initiate a change in your life. But through all that excitement, it is vital to stay realistic and remember that any kind of change takes time.

Patience is key. Persistence is key. This journey requires hard work and continuous hard work. It is also essential to understand that somethings you want to change, you can’t. No matter how hard you work for it, it may not happen.

To make the changes you want, you must start small. Baby steps. These steps will allow you to see progress. Seeing progress will allow you to stay motivated.

If you take anything away from this post, believe in yourself. You can do whatever you want to do.

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