brain Archives

New Year: A time for change

The new year allows the ability to reflect on the past year and decide what you would like to change.

The new year is coming soon. It is customary to make goals for the upcoming year and reflect on what happened this past.

I have talked to many people, and they all agree that 2018 flew by. It was not an easy year either. I urge you to reflect on the year.

I find that reflection allows me to understand what I can do differently in the new year. This allows me to plan what I want to do.

I tend to set goals for the new year based on what I decide I want to do differently. This pushes me forward to start the year off on the right foot.

This year my primary goal is to find more time for myself. My job is so tiring, I need to be able to have some downtime, so I don’t get burnt out.

Time for myself includes writing, working out, reading and vegging out while watching tv. I do not have to do all of these, but I want to do some each day.

New Year: Setting a routine

This means I need to find a routine I can stick to that gives me time after work to do these tasks. I have not officially made that schedule yet. But I think it will involve spending an hour after dinner and before bed to do this.

Setting some goals for yourself is good. It allows reflection which can tell you what you want to change. Life can become overwhelming especially when you have a brain injury. Becoming a bit more organized will aid in this.

The classic saying is ‘New year, new you.’ Try to learn something new or relearn something you used to know before your injury. The new time can allow you to live your best life.

Please read my story about my brain injury by clicking here.

Work: Time Management

A full time job can take a lot out of a person with a brain injury. It is vital to find a good balance that works for you.

I work in health care. It is pretty tiring most of the day, but it is gratifying. I love my job. To finish personal items out of work, I had to figure out how to not become mentally fatigued.

Mental fatigue can be severe to overcome. I have tried to give myself a mental break. I have decided that my commute is my mental break, so I vent about what happened that day, and then I blast some music.

This allows me to come home and not be completely exhausted from work. I give myself a break, and then after dinner, I am ready to fulfill my to-do list.

I make sure that I know exactly what I need to get done that night. It allows me to skip figuring out what needs to be done and just do it.

The end of the night, when I am getting ready to go to sleep, I decide what I need to do the next day. This allows me to wind down but also continue to be productive.

The important thing is to prioritize my list. This makes sure everything is done on time. The larger, more time-consuming stuff is done over many nights or on the weekends.

I need to keep reminding myself that sometimes I need to take a break from work. Especially with a full-time job and brain injury, there are times where I need to come home and just relax.

It is essential to know when your mind needs a break and understand it is okay not to get stuff done for one night.

If you have not done so, please read the story about my brain injury by clicking here.

Time Management in School

School is the first real experience of having a deadline to get stuff done. It is important for people with brain injuries to learn the best way for them to manage their time.

We have all heard the words time management. We know what it means. It means being able to be productive promptly.

This is an important concept when there is a lot on the to-do list and deadlines to meet. The first time we learn about time management is during school.

I don’t remember specifically, but I believe that when I had to start learning how to manage my time was in high school. That is when my readings got more time-consuming, and I had to write more papers.

I believe the big thing I needed to learn with my brain injury was how long it would take me to complete a task. After that, knowing what I needed to get done was more comfortable to plan for.

This allowed me to have an idea each night how long what I needed to get done would take me. This translated into college life as well.

Time Management: Friends

The issue in high school and college was friends. I loved them to death, but they were always able to finish in a faster time than me. This allowed them to go have fun.

There were times when I had to decline because I would not have been able to finish what I needed too quickly.

Sometimes its difficult for them to understand. My friends wanted me to go with them and not ‘be lame’ and do homework.

The thing they didn’t understand was that I wasn’t trying to be lame, I was just trying to do my job. My job was school, and if I felt that it wasn’t finished, I was going to finish it.

It was vital for me to do what I needed to do and stick with it. I had a lot more fun doing stuff with friends when I didn’t have to worry about work.

Some people will never understand the importance of what you need to do, especially if it isn’t a fun choice. It is necessary to stick to what you believe is the correct choice.

If they are good friends, they will understand.

If you want to read about how my brain injury came to be, please click here.

Fatigue: the cost of a brain injury

The brain becomes exhausted quickly when it is injured. Sometimes it becomes difficult to live a normal life with this fatigue

Everyone tends to talk about how people with brain injuries suffer from fatigue. Fatigue means that the brain can tire quickly. I think I have not experienced a lot of fatigue until I joined the workforce.

Throughout my schooling years, I was not mentally tired. There were times I thought I was mentally exhausted but turns out it was nothing compared to what I experienced in the past couple of months.

It turns out that what I thought it was me being an introvert during school was probably mental fatigue. I used to need time for myself and rest without people around me. This occurred after especially rough days.

Now I believe that I experienced fatigued. My need for breaks from others was a result of my fatigue, I didn’t know how to read it.

Even through college, I sustained my mental capacity by taking breaks throughout the day.

Now, I am in the ‘adult’ workforce as I like to call it. I am working eight hours a day. I am doing what I enjoy, and I am helping others live their best lives.

It’s a rewarding job, but it is physical. On top of being mentally exhausting, I exhausted myself physically. This means I need to try to find time to do what I want to do. I love to write, but sometimes my brain cannot handle it at the end of the day.

I am trying to use exercise as mental relaxation. It allows me to let my mind wander for a bit and then when I get home I am more willing to do activities that require more mental energy than just watching TV. These strategies keep my fatigue at bay.

If you have not read the story about my brain injury, please click here.

Depression: Feeling blue

It is important to take care of yourself and if you think you are depressed and don’t be afraid to talk to someone.

Anyone can suffer from depression. It is not unique to an injury, but a brain injury can cause depression. It is essential to understand that right off the bat.

People who don’t have a TBI or ABI can have depression too. I can’t say for sure that I have depression because of what happened to me, but I can argue that its possible.

The important thing is that don’t ignore it if you think you have depression. You need to be able to know the signs and understand what to do about them.

Take a minute, notice how you feel right now. Was it tough to get out of bed this morning or do you have a lack of interest in doing something you used to love to do.

If you think you are depressed or may ha depression, it is essential to talk to someone about it. Don’t just keep it in. It doesn’t have to be a doctor, only a trusted adult.

The most important thing is to find help and take care of yourself.

If you are interested in my story, please click here.

Spanish: Learning a foreign language

Spanish is growing popularity. It is good to know a language other than the one you speak usually. Sometimes, it is difficult to learn with a brain injury

It is helpful to learn a foreign language. I started to learn Spanish in 6th grade. I never knew what to expect. The process of learning English was so painful for me that I completely expected to give up after the required year of taking a language, but I chose not to.

It turned out that I fell in love with it. For some reason learning a language must occur in a different part of the brain because it turned out that I was able to catch on quickly.
I still put a lot of effort into learning Spanish, but it all came with ease. I was able to see the results that I hadn’t seen in other subjects.

My first Spanish teacher was terrific. She was part of the reason I fell in love with the language. I was able to want to continue my learning throughout my school career.

Spanish: Troubles

There were some frustrating times and concepts I have more of a difficult time with, but the difference was that I was able to have a drive through that frustration.

There was a teacher in high school that made me fall out of love with the language. This teacher did not understand that for me to be fluent in Spanish, I will be slower at retrieving words because that was how I speak English.

This caused a lot of problems between us, and it was not fun. I ended up dreading going to class. The homework was just something I needed to do. It made me sad.
In my junior year of high school, I had the opportunity to live in Guatemala for two weeks. I lived with a family, and they didn’t speak any English.

OCD: A battle with obsessions and compulsions

OCD is not specific to brain injuries but it is never an easy thing to deal with

For those of you who don’t know, OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The DSM 5 defines OCD as, “the presence of obsessions, compulsions or both.”

It can be debilitating and take up most of one’s time throughout the day. The DSM 5 has plenty more under the definition, I have a link to the page at the end of my post.

Anyone can have OCD. It is not unique to a person with a brain injury. I am writing about it because I have OCD. Just like everything in my life, there is no sure way to know if it is a result of the injury or something else.

The most challenging thing I have found about OCD is trying to get people to understand what I am doing. Some compulsions are difficult to hide, which means that people will see them and ask about it.

OCD: Compulsions

My most visible compulsion is picking the scabs on my arms. I usually have big red spots on my arms from where I picked and the scares from the older places.

It is not a pretty sight, and people become curious about it. I have had people ask me what happened, and I just say I am allergic to mosquito bites. Someone asked if I had chicken pox.

I won’t lie, it is not fun. It is humiliating and painful to stop. I promise you that is not the only compulsion, but it is the most visible.

No matter what obstacles your brain injury gives you, you are not alone. We all struggle with something, visible or not. If anyone needs to talk to someone who gets it, let me know.

Even with a brain injury, you are not stuck with the life after it. There are ways to improve it. I went to therapy, and it decreased the intensity of my picking. There are ways to get help, and it is worth it.

If you want to know more about why I am writing this blog, please click here.

Speech Therapy

Speech therapy was a slow and painful process but in the long run it was probably the best thing for me.

I have a joke I like to tell people when I talk about what I had to go through with my brain injury. I tell people that name any type of therapy, and I have been through it. Apparently, that is not true, but at times it felt like it.
The therapy I remember most is speech therapy. I did speech therapy in two different settings. When I began, I went to a home office, this was nice and private, so I wasn’t ashamed of it.

It overall felt more comfortable. I was able to have anonymity, so my friends didn’t have to know what I was doing. In elementary school, the image that I was an average kid was critical to me. I am not sure why because now I don’t care about that, but back then I did.

Speech therapy: Therapist

My first speech therapist was great. She knew how to make things fun and explain them to me in a way I understood. It allowed me to feel better about what I was doing because I had a better understanding of what I needed to work on.

My second therapist was great. She was sweet and loved her job. What I had against it was public, and I ended up missing parts of school because of it.
I also had to do that therapy in a group. Most of the time it was just another guy and me. This was a different experience from what I was used to. It always felt like a competition against him instead of having the opportunity to improve.

The fact that I had to miss reading or math lessons did not help how I did in school. It made me mad and frustrated. In the long run, it helped me. It was a good choice, and I wouldn’t change it.

If you missed the reason I started this blog, click here for my story.

Photo by Hrayr Movsisyan on Unsplash

College Applications and Brain Injuries

The college application process is a lot for any high schooler. It is even more scary when your brain injury is preventing you from doing your best.

The process of growing up is a difficult one for anyone. The college application process is long and tedious. It is scary for every high school junior or senior. The addition of a brain injury complicates the process.

Brain injuries affect their humans differently. My brain injury made it, so I needed to fight to receive extra time on admissions tests. But still, my scores did not reflect my work ethic. It was very frustrating.

I needed to rely on other parts of my application to get in. I went to a small high school, so my references knew me very well and I was lucky, but some kids do not have the support that I had. It is crucial for them to find someone who can help them through this transition.

Submission of college applications

The worst part for me was once I hit submit. I couldn’t change or improve my application. I just needed to wait. As the letters poured in saying no while all my friends were getting accepted I needed to lean on my support system often.

It was a process to find schools that accepted me based on other stuff then my test scores. It is important to know there are options. Just because friends and classmates get into amazing schools doesn’t mean you are in trouble.

There is always a way to get to what you want to do. If college isn’t an option at first, there are other ways. There are gap year programs and community college to start the process that way or go into the workforce and then apply later. It is essential to know what to suggest when feelings are down about getting into schools. It is not easy for anyone, but it can be worse with a unique obstacle.

If you are interested in my story and why I have started this blog, click here.

Hobby: What do you love to do

A hobby is important to find. After life has changed, finding an activity that is enjoyable to perform allows a sense of a normal life.

After your life has gone back to as normal as it can be after one’s brain injury, hobbies and sports may change. It is essential to find a new hobby that you enjoy doing.
Finding your niche will allow life to feel more normal and be better than just living to go through the motions. It will take a few tries to see what you enjoy doing.
The hobby that might bring pleasure may not come easy, but that doesn’t matter. If it is fun, and you enjoy it the difficulty can be dealt with.
I have found that I enjoy figure skating and let me tell you, it is not an easy thing. I love being on the ice. Even when I have a rough time learning a new jump or spin, I can step back and take a few laps then I am happy to be on the ice again.
Before figure skating, my hobby was dancing. The transition to skating from dancing was a simple transition that helped make my struggles in skating easy. It doesn’t have to be that kind of shift. It is all about finding what you enjoy.
I am willing to put the work needed to be successful because I love participating in my hobby. This may be an activity that you enjoyed doing before the injury, or you may want to try something new.
What kind of stuff do you enjoy doing after your injury?

In case you missed it, please read my story about why I started this blog.