By Amy Zellmer, Editor-in-chief
As we move into fall, I feel a sense of relief knowing the air will be less humid and sticky. My favorite season, I think fall teaches us a life lesson. Even though the leaves fall from the trees and the land looks dead, there is new life forming that will emerge again in the spring.
Even though we may be broken, we can heal and re-emerge in a new form. We may not be the exact person we were before our injury, but we need to learn to embrace that and love who we are now. Most of us have a new appreciation for life, empathy, and communication.
I hope as you read through these pages you can take away some tidbits to help you cope. This journey seems lonely and dark at times, but using the right tools and surrounding ourselves with the right individuals, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can live vibrant, meaningful lives and help others at the same time.
Communication can be challenging even in the best of times. But throw in some aphasia or a stutter and suddenly the task seems daunting.
Still, communication is critical – no one can help us if we aren’t willing to tell them we need help. Or more importantly, WHAT we need. We often take things for granted and think others should be able to just know what we need, but no one reads minds and life doesn’t work that way.
We must communicate our needs, wants, and desires to those who need to know. If they don’t quite understand us, maybe we need to explain it in a different way. Heck, sometimes I even draw stick figures to try to help them.
It is as much on us as it is on others to communicate. Good communication back and forth can make life so much easier, especially in an already complicated world.
