What's the best thing about having a brain injury?

[elizasmart382]

Not all doom and gloom

[brighton88]

I agree

[Hidden]

Well absolutely nothing is good for me with a brain injury, i would much rather be pre head injury to post head injury but i agree it not all doom and gloom and there are new doors opening for me

[weeal86]

With a rubbish memory get to laugh at things twice & get nice surprises when I find clothes I forgot I'd bought it makes you enjoy & appreciate the smaller things in life too.

[bikerlifestyle]

well not many people get the chance to start again so i try and be the person i want to be

you look at life in a whole different way and you appreciate things more

[bikerlifestyle]

and movies i can watch them again and again like its the first time i have seen them

[dragonflyqueen in reply to bikerlifestyle]

I was going to write that ha ha. Never get bored with soaps or films. Watched bodygaurd today for what seemed like the first time ever. I so enjoyed it.

[bikerlifestyle in reply to dragonflyqueen]

if i watch a film over about 7 or 8 times, i can sort of remember bits, but a lot of it is still new, its a great side effect, and although i can tell someone roughly a very brief overview of a film, i cant remember details

i know if i like a certain film, even though i cant remember what happens.

and i know if it has my favourite actors.actresses in it too, and other films they are in, but not the specifics of films

[Stanley3]

Bikerlifestyle, this is a fantastic attitude... I agree with you all, for me, I have more of an awareness of how much I can do, before getting tired as fatigue is a big problem, to the extent that if I push myself too far I experience a 'total crash'. For people without a head injury this awareness isnt so prevalent, so leads to other health problems... also for me personally, I have a greater appreciation of who people are!

[brighton88 in reply to Stanley3]

I agree Stanley3 my experiance exactly

[UNHID in reply to Stanley3]

I, too feel a greater appreciation of who people are. Post TBI, now, a couple of decades on I can sometimes find it highly amusing watch some people unfold in their true colours.

I found that in my case it seemed I was easy to hone in on, for many people to take out their personal troubles/issues on me, feeling so vulnerable and unable to stand up for myself, as I was.

Also in the past I have felt much alarm and distress, (criminal offence of harassment) from various quarters where it should not have originated, let's say. I ought to have been in the Police station making a formal complaint. But that is another story too long to tell in one go but I do have some incredulous gems! lol (Believe me I was not laughing at the time)

Poor things, they don't see that it never was, is or will be my fault or responsibility that they don't feel very good about themselves and they;re just kidding themselves.

My injury was positive with regard to the fact I now take people how they are to me and not how I wish they were with me. A lot of people;s discriminatory behaviour is just free entertainment and of course speaks much more of them personally, than it does about me.

PS. 3 cheers for Alice Miller et al.

[ncmurphy1951]

nothing except one does appreciate life and living more look we all would prefer not to have had a crain injury but ones life does change massivly one has just to get on with life and make the best of the situation one is in

[pixie2308]

every day is a new experience .... I go to places I know so well and each time it is a new experience and I see new and different things.

Life is an adventure

[elizasmart382 in reply to pixie2308]

I like this answer wish more people felt the same way

[Alicedenham]

It is amazing to feel the brain not working (although very frustrating) then experience and actually feel it re-moulding itself back to some working order. I agree with the previous comment.... Life is truly an adventure.

[spicekin]

I think you appreciate things more too and take each day as it comes

[elizasmart382]

Loving this positive attitude I understand how hard it is recovering from a brain injury! For me it's amazing how the human brain works! There isn't enough awareness of brain injury compared to say cancer. But we can change that!

[veryfuzzyem]

I think I am funnier!

[Danslatete]

I find there are always positives to outweigh the negatives. I am very brutal with the truth and this has lost me many old friends, but the ones who really care are still there for me and can see the improvement. I am doing things i would never have thought of trying in the past. I used to have a high stress job and had been in the forces and prior to that it was all study, As part of rehab i got to try out art and found out i was quite good at it. I started to volunteer at the local scout groups, and after 3 years of being an occasional helper i became a assistant leader. I have learned things i already knew but couldnt access but at a very slow pace and by doing things over and over they stick! The biggest positive is being at home for my children over the past 8 years. I dont remember most of it but i was there in body even if not in brain!!

I got a job in a school this summer. I never thought i would get work again but i did. 7 hrs a week at first then it went up till i was doing 25 hours same as the other class assistants. I am learning to spell again in the primary school and i get to try the maths that i struggle with too!

Im no longer embarrassed about being me but it took a long time to get here. plus point is ive no idea of time passing or planning... so even that doesnt bother me

[ladyjane]

Ive had over twenty lots of brain surgery. Im a better person for it. A better mum, A better wife, daughter and granddaughter. even with the brain damage every day is a new day...cliche as it is. Im starting a business A business i wouldnt have dreamed of a few years ago. Im disabled and cognitivley impaired and I didnt seem to fit anywhere. So Ive built somewhere I can fit in.. and the people who come to use my studio will fit in irrelevant of how theyve been affected by TBI. Its not like it was before brain injury... and its hard to get over what we loose....but it wont keep me down or define who I am. It my fresh start...God bless x

[MetalMissT]

Knowing that it is 'only' an injury and that I survived to live, laugh and love another day!