Being TBI survivors, we all live the struggle; it's in our face every day. The battle we are in can be physical, mental, emotional or a combination of all three, but it's always there; and it takes strength and perseverance. Every day we wake up to face the same struggle. The same #{%^ struggle. The individual challenges and the details we face each day may be different, but we all have that brain injury struggle in common, and all we want is to be able to live a normal, fulfilled life. The ... Read On
“So That’s Why I Do That!!”
How many of us, TBI survivors, do things or say things only to wonder, minutes later, "Why did I do that?" We go through our day-to-day lives, doing the best we can as we try to "normalize", and we often find ourselves doing these things we think are normal when they aren't at all. It becomes routine to do things without understanding why or ... Read On
You Are Not Broken
Once we begin to understand that something serious has happened to us, the first things we always want to know is, "When will I be all better?" Our natural reaction is to want to be fixed and have our lives magically to return to what we once were and what we once knew. And we want to do it fast. Fixing Things We are a society of ... Read On
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I Am the Forgotten Man
I am one of the many: a man who has experienced a Traumatic Brain Injury and feels forgotten. I am left wondering where my place is in the world and why I'm so easily cast aside. We survivors, as a group, constantly deal with feelings of "being forgotten" and of being alone and not having a place for ourselves. Is there a way we can learn to live our lives and do something about that as we work at building our futures? First thing I need to do is to be honest with myself, and that isn't ... Read On
Great Job, All You TBI Survivors!!!
We struggle so much and we all need that occasional good word; that boost of confidence that comes when someone acknowledges you. Many times during the first two to three years after my brain injury I found myself stuck; unable to move. I was paralyzed. The world seemed to be angry with me, punishing me for something I didn't do. I was always butting my head up against it. I knew I needed to get my head above water so I could breathe. I needed somebody to give me a good word and ... Read On
Brain Injury, Mindfulness and an Owl
The first years after my brain injury were a time filled with an incredible amount of confusion and despair. I had suddenly lost my skills and abilities; the stuff that defined me, and had no where to turn. Forty one years ago, when I had my injury, nobody knew anything about brain injury and I felt like a rowboat drifting on the open sea. I realized that I needed some way to take care of myself and take control of my life. What would I have to do to put my deficits aside so I could move ... Read On
Once Upon A Head Injury…
Once upon a time, many years ago, before there were MRI machines and little was known about head trauma...a young man was out with some friends on a summer vacation. He had just finished his best academic year and was looking forward to the fall semester when he was scheduled to study abroad. On this particular calm summer night he was out listening to some friends playing guitar. On the way home, the silence of the Maine woods was shattered when the car he was driving was hit broadside ... Read On