Last week my seven year anniversary of living with a traumatic brain injury passed virtually unnoticed. I was engaged in life. Thus, the post didn't get written until now.
Seven things I've learned in the past seven years:
1. I am in charge of my own rehab. I learned this from the helpful folks in the chatroom at tbi.org. I was in there one night of many nights whining about the lack of rehab in my life. Someone spoke up, told me that I had to be in charge of my own rehab. I listened. Although I didn't stop whining immediately, I did locate brain games and other things on-line that helped me.
2. Anything worth having is worth working for. I continue to progress in major ways to this day because I work at not allowing my traumatic brain injury overrun my life. I am not my labels and I am certainly more than my problems and deficits.
3. In order to be able to challenge myself to progress, I have to get extra rest. A disability advocate at an independent living center taught me this. Very early on, I complained that nothing was automatic anymore. I had to think myself through pretty near everything. The brain needs periods of stimulation and periods of rest in order to heal.
4. Relationships change in the face of an ongoing disability. Some friends wandered away for a time, some forever. Some remained. And I made some new friends.
5. I do not have to second-guess people anymore. I can accept others today as doing the best they can most of the time with what they got. Building a psychological profile of anyone is a meaningless activity. Ultimately, mental masturbation is a waste of time.
6. Cyberbullying is alive and well among adults. Cyberbullying is not limited to any specific age group or occupational status or intelligence level. We can disagree, involve ourselves in heated discussions, and moderate comments without engaging in cyberbullying. Cyberbullying shares many of the same characteristics and effects of bullying in the schoolyard or workplace. It sucks and it's wrong.
7. Life with traumatic brain injury is different but still most definitely life and worth living to the max. It's good to be alive, yo.
sapphoq healing traumatic brain injury
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