Happy new year folks!!
Hope you all have a lovely Christmas.
To my fellow brain injury crew I hope the busyness of Christmas and New Year wasn’t too stressful and overwhelming. I hope you found your coping strategies if it was. Please feel free comment anything you found helped you. If it wasn’t an issue for you the please too tell how.
So a new year and new challenges for everyone. I’m sure there might be some of you out there thinking “no just the same old thing. Learning to walk, talk, speak, move my arm, to stand, to keep balance”, the list could go on forever. But………..
Think of it this way. Everything is a new challenge. It might not seem like it to you as you are the ones doing it day after day but it is. I know as I have those thoughts of nothings is getting better I’m just going round in circles. Take some time to reflect of what you have achieved over the last 12months either by yourself or with family and friends. I recommend with family and friends as they will tell you more about your achievements then you notice as you live it everyday. Each and every one of you have achieved. No matter how small you have still achieved something.
Here is a new challenge I had today.
Today I took my dog to the woods for a walk. Nothing different I try to most days. Only today I forgot my walking stick. How did you get to the car then I hear you say. Well it’s only a small hobble from front door to the lift and then lift to the car. I didn’t think anything of it until I was half way to the woods. I looked over and realised the walking stick wasn’t on the passenger side.
Now I was in a pickle as it was about 1hr to sunset. If I turned round and went home to get my stick and I didn’t get the dog out now then it would be too dark and being a sprocker she has lots of energy to burn. So we got to the woods and I decided that we was going to do our usual walk even though I didn’t have my stick. And we BLOODY WELL DID!! It took longer than normal, I was hitching more that I with the stick and swinging my leg out but I concentrated and focus and achieved it! I’ll pay for it a bit tomorrow in brain fatigue and my right leg not wanting to work, but I will suffer that tomorrow for the achievement I have made today.
Don’t get me wrong my little anxiety demon appeared on one shoulder telling me that I should not bother, I might fall over, how would you get up if you fall over it’s not safe and just go home. Then the courage demon turned up and said try. What’s the worst that could happen? So you might fall over and cry like a baby through the shock, so big deal. You will figure out how to get up again just like you have done every other time. For once the courage demon was a lot stronger that the anxiety demon. I done it! Like I said I will suffer tomorrow but the success today will always out weigh the pain.
If you had asked me last January what I would be in 12 months I would never have said or thought I would be about to embark on a new career in fitness!!
I am going to become a disabled gym instructor through a programme called InstructAbility. I have my physio James, my pt Lee and my exercise class instructor Fiona to thank for pushing me in that direction. With the support of them, my partner and family I have the confidence to achieve this.
Over the last few months there has been a positive change in my mental state. Something that I never thought was going to happen anytime soon. But it has and I’ve turned a corner.
Right I need to sleep. I started writing this at 9:30pm and it’s now 11pm.
Again happy new year to you all.
Laters 💋
My new brain 