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Perseverance and Resilience

Mental Health Issue

in Mental Health
November 6, 2020
0

by Kelly Harrigan

Pop quiz time: What do perseverance and resilience mean to you? Perseverance is about not giving up. It is persistence and tenacity, the effort required to do something and keep doing it till the end, even when encountering resistance or difficulties. Resilience is a person’s ability to recover quickly from unfortunate circumstances or illness. That may resonate with traumatic brain injury survivors. 

As humans we set goals for ourselves, both short- and long-term. It’s easy to become frustrated, angry, or defeated when we  don’t achieve those goals quickly. Sometimes our goals change, yet the memory of what we desired remains. We may feel thwarted when our success feels incomplete or we fall short of our self-imposed target, causing cracks to appear in our self-confidence and self-esteem, shaking our sense of self-worth. As a TBI survivor, this may lead you to feel anxious and overwhelmed. The path of wellness is never easy and often has many routes.  Perseverance and resilience are needed every minute to assist your healing.

Don’t let others define you as a person.

In our social media world, where we are constantly bombarded with the perceived success and perfection of others, you may grouse, “Yes, but I may not be the same again and I could never be a J.K. Rowling , Tom Hanks, or Serena Williams.”  News flash: their goals were not attained overnight. Waving the Phoenix wand did not work instantaneously for J. K. Rowling. Her manuscript was rejected twelve times before Bloomsbury picked it up. Now, generations of fans read her books and we are inspired to summon our very own Patronus.

Tom Hanks had some major flops in his career. Yet in one of his most iconic roles, as Forrest Gump, he portrays a character who persevered throughout his life and was resilient enough to recover from life’s setbacks. T.Hanks for the inspiration, Tom, both on and off-screen.

Serena Williams didn’t become the tennis G.O.A.T. she is by sitting on the couch and eating bon bons all day. She trained hard for years and suffered defeats. Yet she kept at it and outplayed or outlasted others. These three people did not let others define their expectations or limits. They persevered and were resilient in the face of life’s obstacles. 

But I want to be “ normal” again!

Normal is just a word that means what is usually expected or done. Times change. People change. Circumstances change. Change is a process and it’s messy at best. Countries, leaders, and individuals adapt and change to move forward in life leading to a new normal. Perseverance and resilience are needed to do so. As a society, right now we are adapting and moving forward through extremely trying times; our resilience to endure and overcome a pandemic and racial injustice walks hand-in-hand with our perseverance to achieve a vaccine and equality.  You, as a TBI survivor, are overcoming so many hurdles daily. You can define your own “normal.”

Madonna said it best: “Express Yourself”

Allow yourself to express and feel your emotions. Sometimes having a good cry can be emotionally cleansing and put you back on track.  Make like Catherine in the television series “The Great” and have a cleansing yell in the privacy of your coach, er, car. Chat with a loved one or someone you trust and tell them how you feel. If you’re not up for that yet, no problem. Write a letter to yourself and get it all out. Be kind to yourself, practice compassion for self, and ease up on your great expectations. As they say, Rome was not built in a day. Take some small action, because when you are feeling overwhelmed, doing that one small thing can help you move yourself forward.

Better start believing in yourself.

Anyone who suffers from TBI already possesses the traits of perseverance and resilience. You have spent days, weeks, months, and years, plugging away at therapies and treatments to improve your health. You continue to reach out to family and friends. As you read this article, your ability to bounce back allows you to be present in this moment. You have put in the effort to overcome so many difficult obstacles in your healing process. Within each one of you lies a fierce and strong warrior who battles each day in battles that many others are not able to face, battles in which others would concede defeat. Take pleasure in every small success on your life journey. Realize that you matter to others. Celebrate yourself. 

Know that right now, right here, you are enough as you are.

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  • It was such a pleasure to keynote at the @biaofms NeuroTrauma Symposium last Friday. What an amazing group of professionals and survivors. I found some new resources I didn’t even know existed out there!! 

#bia #braininjury #concussion #tbi #pcs #keynote #brainhealth #neuroplasticity
  • Neuro fatigue is beyond tired, it’s when you’re brain says “I’ve had enough” and shuts down everything. It often a sneaks up on you when you least expect it, making it hard to manage. 

If you’ve never experienced it, it’s truly hard to understand. But please believe us when we tell you we’re done and need to rest. And that rest may look different for everyone. Some may need a nap. Some may just need a quiet space. There’s no right or wrong way to rest. 

#braininjury #tbi #pcs #concussion #braininjuryawareness #braininjuryawarenessmonth #TBIsurvivor
  • A traumatic brain injury is the ultimate “invisible injury” as no one can see what’s happening inside your brain. Even imaging doesn’t show a TBI (unless you have bleeding or severe trauma). It’s impossible to explain to others, and even doctors don’t take us seriously or know how to help us. 

It is incredibly frustrating to go through life being told “there’s nothing we can do. You’ll just have to give it more time and see what happens” and even more frustrating when you find out that there are doctors out there who truly DO know how to help us!  Like @integratedbraincenters 

#braininjury #tbi #pcs #concussion #functionalneurology #braininjuryawareness
  • I remember how I would literally need to lay down after taking a shower because it was so exhausting. And something like going to the grocery store and bringing them in and putting them away would require me to do nothing else for the rest of the day. It was a one-chore kind of activity. 

These are normal, every day things we take for granted before brain injury, and afterwards they require soooo much energy and effort. It’s truly hard for someone who hasn’t experienced a brain injury to understand. 💚

#braininjury #tbi #concussion #pcs #braininjuryawareness #TBIsurvivor
  • You totally got this!! 
Is it gonna be easy? Nope. 
Is it gonna be worth it? Absolutely! 

#tbi #braininjury #concussion #pcs #TBIrecovery #TBIsurvivor
  • The Chair Yoga Pocket Guide is trending on Kickstarter! We’re over half-way to our goal! Can you help us get there by pre-ordering an autographed copy of the book?? 

LINK IN BIO 

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  • I remember folks would talk to me and my brain would take forever to process what they were saying. They would be into the next subject and I’d still be trying to decipher their first sentence. It was frustrating and exhausting. 

Friends would tell me to “try harder” and concentrate. But that’s not how it works with brain injury. 

It’s like if you drop your laptop and scramble it’s processor. 

#braininjury #concussion #tbi #pcs #braininjuryawareness #braininjuryawarenessmonth #TBIsurvivor
  • #Repost @integratedbraincenters
Recovery as defined in the dictionary is a return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength. 

Missing from this definition is that recovery is a continuum. We often hear in recovery post surgery that a patient is a percent recovered (Sue is 80% recovered post hip replacement) demonstrating that recovery is not an all or nothing situation but is rather a spectrum. 

Not everyone will make a 100% recovery but most people can move forward in their recovery in some way, even if it is only 10% or 70%. 

To say that recovery is not possible in any capacity is probably untrue. The more severe the injury the more likely you will never be the same person you were prior, but that does not mean that you can’t get back to doing the things you love and contribute to your family and community.

#beaininjury #concussion #tbi #pcs #neuroplasticity #resilience #resiliency #TBIsurvivor
  • No two brain injuries are the same, therefore, no two recoveries are the same. Don’t compare yours against someone else’s, as you never know what they’ve already gone through. 

Focus on YOU and your recovery. What could you try differently? What should you maybe give up? I personally gave up alcohol and gluten and that was huge for me and my inflammation. 

#braininjury #concussion #tbi #pcs #neuroplasticity #functionalneurology #funcneuro #neuronerd

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