Tag: brain

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.

If you are new here, welcome. Please visit this page to read about my story and why I began this blog.

March: Brain Injury Awareness Month

March is brain injury awareness month. It is our time to show everyone what we struggle with every day of our lives. We need to raise awareness.

March is brain injury awareness month. Through this month, I will try to post a statistic or inspiring quote every day. For us, every day is brain injury awareness, but March is our month. We can now make everyone else aware of what we live with every day.

If you are new here, welcome. Please read my story. This will tell you what I am trying to do and why I am trying to do it. Please click here.

Birthdays: Negative and Positive

Birthdays are a time to celebrate. They are a time to enjoy another year with loved ones. They are a time to reflect, which can be difficult.

I had a birthday a few days ago—another trip around the sun and another year older. The funny thing is, I am not that old. I just turned 25.

A birthday is something to celebrate. That goes double after you had an injury that threatened your life. It is crucial to remember it is a time for celebration.

It is time for your friends and family to acknowledge and be thankful that they still have years with you. It is a time to celebrate with your loved ones.

Birthdays: There is a dark side

There is a darker side to having a birthday. It signifies that you are another year older. This current birthday has been a difficult one for me.

25. A quarter-century. Birthdays are an excellent time to reflect on what you have done with your time on earth. I can almost guarantee that when you were younger, you had an image of where you would be at the age you become.

When I was younger, 25 was far away. I was going to have my dream job, have a loving husband, and starting a family of my own.

Spoiler alert, I have none of that. I must find peace that life does not turn out the way we plan it at times. I talked in an earlier post about timelines. I know that sometime down the road I will get everything I want; it just will take me longer to get there—just like everything else in my life.

It is essential when you get in this funk; I am in to dig yourself out of it fast. It would be best if you didn’t dwell on what you have yet to accomplish especially on birthdays.

I try to think of what I have accomplished. I tend to think of these accomplishments, but you can write them down and keep the list somewhere. Then, when you get into the funk, pull out the list.

Acknowledgment of accomplishments is especially crucial for people with brain injuries, even if it isn’t your birthday. Remember, everything you accomplish is a big feat and should be celebrated. Try to remember all the hard work you put into what you have done.

If you have yet to read my story, please click here to read it. My birthday is also the anniversary on my injury.

Self-love: It is time to end the hatred

It is easy to focus on your flaws. It is more difficult to partake in self-love. This post is about how I began my journey.

In honor of Valentine’s day coming up, I figure it would be a good idea to talk about self-love. Sometimes loving yourself for who you are is difficult.

It is easy to see all your flaws, but it is essential to realize that the people you are around don’t see your flaws the way you do. Imperfections can be many when you are dealing with a brain injury.

If I give you a minute to write down all your flaws, how long will the list be? If I give you a minute to make a list of things you love about yourself, will the list be shorter or longer?

Usually, the love list is shorter, and that is an okay start on the self-love journey. The important thing is you find stuff you love about yourself. If there is nothing, start small.

I am not thrilled with my weight and my current life situation. I do like the color of my hair and how passionate I can become about a task.

Self-love Journey

The things you love about yourself don’t have to be physical. You can like something about your personality.

It is easy to get down on yourself. It isn’t an effortless task to improve your life if there is nothing positive you can say about yourself.

To begin my self-love journey, I challenged myself to pick five things I like about myself. Keep this list around for when you are feeling down about yourself. Read the list and remember that there are things to love about yourself.

When you are feeling down about yourself, remember you can always change what you don’t like.

The practice of self-love promotes self-confidence. The more self-confidence you have, the more comfortable you are in your own skin, and it may get rid of some self-hatred.

If you haven’t gotten the chance, please read my story about why I began the blog, click here.

Hopeless: When a task seems impossible

When a task seems impossible, remember the task is just difficult and not impossible.

The dictionary defines hopelessness as ‘impossible to accomplish.’ I have had many times where I have felt hopeless myself, or the task I am working on is futile.

This feeling is not fun to have. It can leave you feeling desperate and ask what the point is. If something is impossible to accomplish, why bother doing it.

But there is good news. There is a difference between hopelessness and exhausting. As the dictionary states, hopeless is impossible and difficult is ‘not easily or readily done.’

When a task is difficult, it may seem hopeless. But most of the time, it is just a difficult task. Usually, the only job that is impossible is one that physically cannot be done, like a dog picking up a can of soup with their paws.

The dog is physically unable to pick up a can of soup because they do not have thumbs and cannot grasp the can. Sports have taken many strides from when they began.

For a long time, figure skaters believed that triples would be the highest jump they would do. Still, recently multiple skaters have landed quadruple jumps in competitions and therefore achieving the hopeless.

Hopelessness Turned Around

It is mentally draining to perform a difficult task, but the key is not to give up. The ability to keep working on a task, and performing it over and over again is impressive.

If the task you are working on begins to feel hopeless, take a break. You can always pick it back up again. It will do no good if you keep attempting the task.

I have found that as I become more frustrated, the more hopeless the task becomes. My mind and body do not follow what is needed to do to perform the job

It is okay to step away and come back to it later. The important thing is never to give up. Next week I will dive into how I handle when I feel like I am hopeless.

If you haven’t been able to read my story and why I started this blog, click here.

Dreams: We all have them

Everyone has their dreams. It is important to acknowledge that dreams are different. With our own timelines certain life events occur at different times.

It is normal to wonder when the right time is to follow a dream in life. I have learned that it is never the right time for anything.

Since it is never the right time, you should just do what you want to do. It is important to just go for what you want.

No one knows what is going to happen in the future, and we can spend hours worrying about it. Or we can create our future.

Being Left behind

The feeling of being left behind is real, and it hurts. The importance of doing what you dream of doing is valid. Others cannot take your dream away from you.

When I am feeling left behind, I try to remember that everyone has a different vision. No one shares my vision, and I don’t share theirs.

The fact that we do not have the same dreams means we are on different timelines. I am working toward my goal of researching ways to aid in rehabilitation after a brain injury.

Different Dreams

That is my current dream. At some point, my goal will be finding the man I love and starting a family, but it is not it right now.

My friends that are engaged right now that is their dream. It is excellent that they are living their dream, and I am living mine.

When you are feeling left behind or left out, think about what you are working towards. Remember what you are trying to accomplish in life.

If you are not working toward a dream right now, sit down and think. What do you hope to accomplish in life?

It doesn’t have to be significant or life-changing. You just must pick something. Try to start small if you are unable to think of a dream.

If you get the chance, please check out my story to have an idea of why I began this blog.

Fear: The World can’t Help it.

We all experience fear. This only difference is how we handle it and if we let it rule our lives. This has suggestions on how to overcome fear.

With the new year upon us and there is a bunch of unknown. At least for me, the unknown means fear.

Everyone becomes afraid, and it is a natural human emotion. Fear can aid in a survival situation. It can alert you as to when something is wrong.

The problem is when you let fear hold you back from what you want to do. I am a creature of habit; fear interferes with my chance to move forward with life.

The process of getting a new job was stressful for me. For the first two months, I walked through the door, scared as to what the day would hold.

The stress and fear did not keep me from walking through the doors and facing each day. After a while, I became more comfortable, and now I wouldn’t change where I work for the world. My co-workers are some of my best friends.

Overcoming Fear

There are different ways not to let fear get in the form of how you live your life. It will prevent you from moving forward in life.

When I am doing something that scares me, I try to think about how doing the thing that scares me will benefit me in the future. This allows me to continue the event that scares me.

This suggestion is easier said than done, but I sometimes need to push through the fear and do the act.

I have found that something that helps me is relaxing, I need to take deep breaths and imagine how good things will be after the event. I also (as cliche as this is), go to my happy place, which is somewhere where I am happy and not stressed.

Fear pushes us to new limits if we don’t let it hold us back. Practice and find ways that work for you to conquer your fear.