learning Archives

New Challenge: Sticking with it.

It can be daunting to take on a new challenge after a brain injury. I find that if it is something you are passionate about, it will feel less like work.

Learning something new with a brain injury can be daunting. The first step is deciding what your new challenge should be. Pick something you are interested in. For me, this was figure skating.

Of course, you never really know what you are going to be passionate about until you try it. Sometimes you will have to change because you decide the effort isn’t worth it.

I tried different sports and hobbies. I ended up choosing figure skating as the thing to learn and put the effort in.

What about the activity you are learning is strenuous depends on where the brain injury is. This may dictate what you decide is more enjoyable to learn.

The activity or task that you decide to learn will probably take a lot of work. Unless you are born with the talent you need for the thing you choose to do, it will take some pushing, and a brain injury will make it more challenging.

It sucks. I said I was going to quit skating many times, but I am still here. It took a ton of work to get to where I am in my skating. I am never going to be an Olympic skater.

I think that the main reason I have been able to stick with it is that I am passionate about it and I have found something I love to do.

This is essential. If you do not wake up and think about practicing or want to go to practice, you may want to try to find something else. That is okay.

You will know you have found the right challenge when it doesn’t feel like work most days.

If you haven’t read my story please click here.

Process of Coming to Terms

At some point after a brain injury you will learn what happened. You will have to learn a different way of living or learn to adapt. It can be tough at first but it gets better.

Since I got my injury at a young age, my parents needed to explain to me what happened. Of course, they had to wait until I was old enough to understand and process it.

Before that moment, I remember thinking to myself that something ‘wasn’t right with me.’ I had this feeling that there was something that made me different. When kids are growing up, being different can be a big deal.

When my parents decided it was time for me to know, my mind went blank. I don’t really remember what I thought or how I reacted. It was big news.

This news was tough to wrap my head around. I am sure it is no matter how old you are when you get your injury. There are a lot of questions going through your mind.

Fortunately for me, I was able to take time to process it. I was young enough when I initially heard the story that I kept adding details as I grew. This made for a much slower time to process.

My questions came with that and not all at once. The question that appeared a lot was why. Why did this happen to me?

I am still trying to answer that question, but I have to believe that there is some reason it happened. There is a reason for everything.

Process and Acceptance

Accepting what has happened to you will take time. It requires time to fully process and understand what your life is going to look like now.

This takes time, and everyone will have their own timeline for it to happen. It is a huge change. Allow yourself to grieve and be mad.

After that step, you need to be willing to learn what your new life is going to look like.

If you are interesting in the story of my brain injury 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.