Traumatic Brain Injury and the Elephant

Hi, and welcome back to Second Chance to Live. You are always welcome at my table. While training at the martial arts school earlier today, Sensei (Instructor) had the brown and black belts drill round kicks, followed by tornado kicks. We drilled these kicks with a partner and a focus pad. Which each series of kicks I was encouraged by my ability to execute the tornado kick with accuracy and height. A tornado kick is likened to a spinning crescent kick, which requires coordination, agility and timing. I was particularly encouraged by the progress I made because I have not always been able to execute a round kick followed by a tornado kick.

I use the above illustration, not to draw attention to my ability, but to convey a principle. The principle may seem obvious to some and being able to execute a tornado kick may not be a big deal to other people. When I first began training at the martial arts school I had limited coordination which limited my ability to perform any kicks, much less a tornado kick. When I watched more advanced students demonstrate tornado kicks I was amazed by their grace and agility. When I attempted to mimic the ability of the advanced students I looked and felt extremely clumsy. What became apparent was that my leg strength did not support my ability to perform tornado kicks. I had not yet developed the necessary muscle memory to perform tornado kicks.

Rather than becoming discouraged and despondent I made a decision to develop my leg strength and muscle memory. Through my decision I decided to drill and drill again and then drill some more. Because of my limitations and deficits I knew I needed to spend additional time and attention to drilling. In my process as a martial artist I had to spend more time at the Y developing my leg strength to improve and enhance my balance. The combination of drilling my kicks and increasing my leg strength significantly improved my ability to execute tornado kicks. I am not suggesting that my tornado kicks are stellar in appearance or delivery, but I have determined to deal with my elephant. I may never be able to execute a tornado kick flawlessly, but I know that my tornado kicks are looking and feeling better with each new day.

You may have a desire to improve in your physical rehabilitation or in some other area of your recovery process. I have found that the journey of a thousand mile begins with the first step. Unless we decide to take the first step and then keep moving we may never see our desires and dreams come to fruition. I have heard the question asked, “How do you eat an elephant?” The immensity of the elephant can appear to be overwhelming. Rather than being discouraged I can chose to look for a solution. The impossible becomes attainable when I follow the principle in the answer to that question, “One bite at a time.”

When I view my elephant, such as improving a tornado kick as manageable through bites, I find encouragement to keep chewing. You may have seen your elephant as overwhelming and daunting. You may have asked yourself the question, “What is the point?” The elephant is just too big. My encouragement to you my friend is to work with your therapist and do the drills to improve your skill. As you stay committed to your process the immensity of your elephant will be reduced to bones and you will grow stronger with each bite. Before long you will look back in your recovery and rehabilitation process and see how far you have come. We grow because we respect the elephant, but refuse to give up on our process, on a loving God or on ourselves, because we know that our circumstances are not meant to keep us down, but to build us up!

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