I was thinking about Ben's 'Oh lawd' post and there is something I should've added.
Stress gets you nowhere.
I used to play video games a lot in my life and at a younger age I used to get stressed out at things I could not do on them. Growing up, I did learn to control the levels of stress and found that the more calmer you handle something, the easier it is to pass. So instead of "You censored censored censored censored, just run will you!" and getting all hot and bothered, take a deep breath, assert yourself and just say "Oh well, I died again. Lets give it another go". It helped me out.
Plus also being moderately stress-free is probably the big reason why I look so young for my age. A lot of people think I am still a teen :). I used to get asked for ID when I was paying for alcohol when I was in my 20s.
I do tealise I sound a bit like a monk right now haha but I'm not, far from it, I'm just handing out a wise tip. I did look a bit like a monk when I had radiotherapy back in 98 though. Friar Tuck, eat your heart out haha.
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Matt2584
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"My friend had been drinking ALCOHOL for most of his natural life and because of all this consumption of intoxicating crap, he developed a tumour which he had RADIOTHERAPY on.
He was very lucky he had radiotherapy when he did because he almost DIED as this tumour had got so big in size and was putting a lot of STRESS on his HEART. The end".
Hi matt
Wise advice about keeping stress to a minimum. But I think it is important people are able to express their feelings on this site. Some people deal with things by talking them through with others who understand
Of course, it is good for people to be talking about there stressful problems but I am talking about at the time of the problem, they might not need to get so stressed if they can help it. Plus also, I was mostly talking about video games and the stress it brung me at first :). I do know that video games are mainly unstress-worthy (is that a word? It is now :)) to make it clear, there is not point in getting stressed over a poxy video game haha.
My stress is largely uncontrollable due to frontal brain injury. Wish I could manage it like I did pre BI, when I was a pretty laid back person, but its a whole series of abilities that are jiggered that mean the emotions get away with gushing out! I know all the de stressing techniques but not particularly easy to reason or mindful etc my way through it. When the valve blows it blows!!
My stress is very different now to the stress I experienced pre BI....
Before the stresses were all about deadlines and decisions that affected other people's quality of life and about staffing and about budgets and funding applications which all ran into millions of pounds and a whole lot of responsibility... so it was mostly work related stuff and easily offset by taking some time out form work stuff and doing something relaxing or fun (although video games are like Xmas jumpers... while they are fine for others, I just don't get the point of them at all )
Post BI I do not stress about the little stuff at all. My lack of memory seems to seriously reduce stress levels - don't remember it can't stress about it... big bonus!
But my inability to make decisions or to multi task, my potential for overload and meltdown is where my new stresses lie...and because I do not recognise when this is happening it comes out of the blue and can be messy...and of course no amount of fun stuff can help with that. It is what it is.
I know all the techniques that are supposed to help...but its a bit like my brain injury survivor card - when I really need to use it I am beyond reasonable thought and don't even think about the helpful little card in my purse...
The brain injury survivor card. I was given one to me from my physiotherapist in 99 or 2000, this was before I actually Joined Headway.
I have never used the card before and right now, I dont really need to use it because I usually have somebody with me most of the time.
Anyway, it wasn't until 2007 when I had a check-up at my hospital that my mum picked up a leaflet for Headway and that is how we heard about them and eventually joined them.
So if I looked into this card a bit more clearly, I could've known about Headway ages ago.
I seem to have become immune to the type of stress I used to feel pre illness.I was a bitof a workaholic,partly fuelled by other peoples demands. I think part of this is accepting that I am different now,still useful but require more time to accomplish tasks.I can't drive myself like a machine and have learned to take the pressure off(even if others still expect me to be superwoman and are surprised that I have learned to say 'no' sometimes)Stress takes a lot of energy and I have a limited supply.I have hung up my Super Cape-it turns out I am human after all.
Vitamin B-12 helps with low energy levels. I like to draw and it knocks me out but I am now taking Spirulina supplements and Spirulina is nutrient rich and contains vitamins such as B-12. I find I don't tire out so easily and can possibly draw a little more.
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Ooops I did it again
Moan
Mourning your lost self, discovering your new self
