Some thoughts, and a great many thanks!

[at-spes-non-fracta]

Hello all, Just thought that I should share some realizations that I have made in this past week that have really made a difference to my perception of head injury. Firstly I think that finding this community has been extremely helpful in getting me to understand so much more about head injury than I have been able to discover in the eighteen years since that moment. I can only put this down to the fact that I can read, totally relate to and fully understand other posts which is a relief in itself. Talking these issues over with doctors has certainly been helpful but usually less than reassuring because it often feels like the same old lines are being quoted from the medical books. Here, it feels so much more real, real people with real experience and real knowledge. Big thanks.

Now for the biggest "discovery" of the week that has had a huge influence on my new outlook. I believe that I was basing my level of recovery on how I perceived my former self to be. Truthfully, I cannot really remember who that person was, so my target recovery was in effect a fanciful character of my imagination. Something has allowed me to see this now and reconsider.

Another key to me making this step is that I have felt, until this week, that the burden of the head injury was effectively holding me back. Now, I am sure many of you will appreciate how terms like 'its in the past move on' and 'forget it' really don't cut the mustard when talking about head injury. And while I believe that it is a weight that I will always have to carry, I hope that I am able to condense this big boulder of doom into a small pocket sized pebble.

I have sensed a new found confidence this week, and feel that I have made significant progress.

Thanks to all, Ryan

[Alicedenham]

You are true survivor. Keep up the 'new confident' you, it is inspiring!

[Mikesghost]

Great news that you are still discovering new things about the new you.

I too have found that the old me is gone for good but I don't mind at all as the new me is a better person.

[Jeanie160978 in reply to Mikesghost]

It is Greg news

I read a book called my stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain doctor who suffered a stroke. She talks about picking and choosing which character traits she will have for her new self and ones she definitely doesn't want again.

I hope I m making sense but it did help me to be more positive about losing the old me!

[Dorsetcharlie]

What a brilliant post! Keep sharing

[at-spes-non-fracta]

Thank you again, this truly has been an amazing week!

For many a year now, I have felt like a survivor but my negativity would take over and I had associated the term with a vision of me drifting aimlessly around alone in a life boat. This week has allowed some of the mist to clear and I am sure that I can see those white cliffs of Dover. Yes, it really feels like I am coming home at last.

Thanks again guys and gals for being the coastguards of head injury.