Organizing

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     Whatever organizing skills that I had pre-traumatic brain injury have gone the way of my old multi-tasking skills. I now have the help of a friend who knows how to organize. I point to stuff and the friend organizes it.

     I no longer have a problem with throwing out or getting rid of stuff that is no longer useful to me. I can't remember why I wanted it in the first place.

     I suspect that I am not the "only" citizen in this community who has problems with household organization. And I also suspect that I am not the only t.b.i. survivor with this problem. I'm fortunate that our situation allows us to hire someone to help with this. And I also know that not everyone with a similar problem can afford to hire help.

     Offering me an hour visit with an occupational therapist who might want to offer tips on how to make housework less exhausting is something that I do not find to be of value to me in my situation. I also deem that particular suggestion as impractical. 

sapphoq healing traumatic brain injury asks: To the "helping" professionals in my life and in the lives of other folks with traumatic brain injuries and/or other disabilities: Would you put a small square of sterile cloth on a deep cut that calls for stitches?
     Your offer of quasi-assistance is hereby rejected. If you aren't going to help me, then don't hinder me. Just get out of my way. The quick fix is worthless in the complexity of our individual lives. No love.

Lazy

I think I've talked about this one before.  But I will talk about it again anyways.

I used to go to a t.b.i. support group on Saturdays run by one of us.  We used to talk about stuff that got in our way and how to work around that stuff.

One Saturday [or maybe more than one Saturday] I was talking about my laziness.  The survivor-facilitator encouraged me to think of this as something that came out of my brain damage i.e. my messed up neurology.  I rejected this and still do reject this thinking.  Here's why.

If I claim that something is organic and arising from my traumatic brain injury, then I am saying that it cannot be fixed.  That I have to work around it.  I refuse to believe this of my laziness.

I am willing to admit that perhaps the brain injury made my laziness worse, or makes it harder to deal with.  I know I have some problems with initiation now.  That I can identify as being from the brain damage.  I know that I also have brain-related fatigue and that particular ailment called "fibro" as evidenced by all of the trigger points that I have.  Fine.  But laziness as a function of my brain damage? -- no.

My laziness is mine.  I own it.  You will not deprive me of it.  When I say that I am lazy and not "my brain damage causes me to be inert," I am claiming some hope for myself that I can change this.  So yeah, I am lazy.

What do I mean when I say I am lazy? I am lazy about doing housework, throwing out stuff, organizing my belongings. And not lazy? I am not lazy about walking the dog, doing laundry, doing anything on the computer.  In other words, if I like it I will do it.  If it is not interesting, I won't.

I've tried to make charts and todo lists of stuff to do everyday-- like organizing, throwing away papers, and some form of housework.  The end result is that I can make wonderful charts.  I just cannot follow them.  [This may be related to my inability to follow a pattern for crochet but I can make my own patterns].  So the chart thing just isn't working for me at this time.  I've tried "attaching emotion" to the stuff I want to get done, like playing music during housework [suggested in the t.b.i. support group] but I would forget to play the music.  The end result was I didn't get much of any housework done.

I've read in a few places that developing a new habit takes thirty days or something.  The new approach is to take each thing that I want to do and endeavor to do it every weekday.  I've actually had better success with that. 

I am also tapping into my determination.  That same determination that I used in order to learn how to rewrite understandable sentences is still available to me today.  That same determination that drives me to research a story or event or organization is part of me.  That same determination that caused the head of investigations at my own job to refer to me as a bulldog did not die during my car accident.  I know I am determined.  Choosing to use my determination to combat my laziness is working for me.  And that is what I am doing.

Things may be more difficult for me to accomplish at times due to complications from my brain injury.  I do have problems with initiation, organization, and fatigue.  I also have this determination stuff.  If I believe that I am more than my problems, then I can do more than my problems.  I do not have to live like an blob void of all adult responsibility, only doing stuff that I want to do and ignoring the rest.  This is not a fantasy land.  Houses get dirty and disorganized when not taken care of.  Even if I was to hire a housekeeper [again-- I had one for awhile a few summers ago when things were bad], there is still stuff that I have to do.

So I am using my determination in order to conquer my laziness.  And screw the rest.

sapphoq healing t.b.i.