From what you share with me Megan you sound like you are beginning to grieve the reality of your brain injury. Accepting my reality — i discovered that I did not have to like it. I hear you Megan. In my experience when I got to a place of accepting my reality I was able to take the steps of needed action to look for solutions to deal with what is — my reality Megan. In my opinion, you are doing excellent work Megan. I have discovered that I am powerless over what other people do or don’t do. I have also discovered that I am the only one who can live my life.

Several years ago I felt led to write an article Painting your Portrait {AKA} This is Not a Dress Rehearsal http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/03/13/painting-your-portrait-akathis-is-not-a-dress-rehersal/. A year ago a friend of mine passed away. He was 5 years cancer free when he passed away. He was 3 years older than I was at the time. I wrote an article to honor him, The Passing of My Friend http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/the-passing-of-my-friend/. When Dave passed away suddenly — I had spoken to him the Friday before. He died on Monday morning — Dave passed away on December 8, 2008. — the reality of how fragile life can be became clear.

I share the above with you to encourage you to not give up on your process. More will be revealed. At times your progress may seem slow, but remember the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. As the days pass before long you will be able to look back and see how far you have come Megan — because you took the first step and you kept walking. Progress not perfection.

I will leave you with several of my favorite quotes.

“If you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams and endeavor to live the life that you have imagined…You will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Henry David Thoreau.

“Insist on yourself, never imitate. Your own gift you can present with the cumulative force of a who life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half-possession…Do that which is assigned to you , and you can not hope too much or dare too much.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

By the way, to answer my email’s all you have to do is click on reply on your email and then type your response Megan. You do not have to answer through a comment by using my Contact page

Have a great day and God bless you Megan.

Craig

There are some good characteristics of a TBI:
You never see the same movie twice (especially good for people with memory problems!)
You may make the same mistakes that are common mishaps (that everyone makes) and people assume it’s because of your TBI!
It is accepted if you take a while before you speak and answer (gives you more time to process the information and give the proper response!) but people just think it’s because of your TBI

Sorry Craig, I don’t know why I can’t get what I just typed to copy/paste onto a reply letter to you?!

Now, I’m just thinking of other stuff I need to do, so I can’t spend any more time (right now) on this!

I don’t know what your direct email addy is?

Have a simply phenomenal day and God bless both you and your family Carol.

Craig

Keep up the great writing!

Cheers,
Carol Welch

I will say so long for now. Have a pleasant evening and God bless you and your family.

Craig

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/05/12/traumatic-brain-injury-and-denial-my-perspective-as-a-tbi-survivor/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/my-journey-thus-far/ 3 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/my-struggle-living-with-an-invisible-disability/ 4 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/08/21/having-an-invisible-disability-%e2%80%93-the-consequence-of-denying-my-reality%e2%80%94part-1/ 2 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/traumatic-brain-injury-and-the-double-bind/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/05/24/don%e2%80%99t-talk-don%e2%80%99t-trust-and-don%e2%80%99t-feel/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/the-power-of-identification/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/04/12/traumatic-brain-injury-and-the-square-peg/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/traumatic-brain-injury-self-esteem-and-significance/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/second-chance-to-live-and-letting-go-of-unrealistic-expectations/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/traumatic-brain-injury-and-energy/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/traumatic-brain-injury-denial-and-limiting-scripts/ a 2 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/traumatic-brain-injury-and-overcoming-denial-%e2%80%93-part-1/ 2 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/traumatic-brain-injury-and-the-grieving-process-%e2%80%93-part-1/ a 7 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/06/06/traumatic-brain-injury-%e2%80%93-moving-beyond-the-grieving-process/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/traumatic-brain-injury-%e2%80%93-freedom-from-isolation-%e2%80%93-part-1/
a 2 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/traumatic-brain-injury-following-your-bliss%e2%80%a6regardless/

By the way, I love your spelling of solution — soulution. Excellent.

Have a great day and God bless both you and your family.

Craig

February 6, 2007 I created Second Chance to Live Sharon to share my experience, strength and hope in ways that work for me through the internet. My experience with writing and publishing articles for Second Chance to Live has been cathartic for me. I process my thoughts as I write — and many of my articles take between 6-8 hours to develop. I do not know if you are aware that I have a Site Map. Here is a link to my Site Map http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/site-map/. In my Site Map currently I have 493 articles. Some of those articles have traumatic brain injury or living with a disability in their titles, however many other articles do not have those prefixes in their titles. A good point to remember Sharon is that all the articles that I have written contain information that you may find to be helpful. I believe you will also be able to identify with what I write. I have heard others like yourself say that I put words to topics and matters that other brain injury survivors would like to say / hear. Consequently, may I suggest and encourage you to read several articles that I have written that I have links to below.

After reading the below articles I would suggest that you read the titles of my articles my article listed in my Site Map http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/site-map/ — and then spend time reading those articles. I believe the information will be helpful to you and may give insight in to what you are experiencing. Denial is a warm blanket that some people do not want to remove. When people are ready — for whatever reason — they will have ears to hear. Please feel free to ask any questions

Take your time reading the articles. As you read through the articles and you have questions, please feel free to ask Sharon. All questions are good questions. I look forward to hearing from you.

I will say so long for now. Have a pleasant rest of your day and God bless both you and your family.

Craig

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/the-power-of-identification/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/05/12/traumatic-brain-injury-and-denial-my-perspective-as-a-tbi-survivor/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/my-journey-thus-far/ 3 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/my-struggle-living-with-an-invisible-disability/ 4 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/08/21/having-an-invisible-disability-%e2%80%93-the-consequence-of-denying-my-reality%e2%80%94part-1/ 2 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/traumatic-brain-injury-and-the-double-bind/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/05/24/don%e2%80%99t-talk-don%e2%80%99t-trust-and-don%e2%80%99t-feel/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/traumatic-brain-injury-following-your-bliss%e2%80%a6regardless/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/04/12/traumatic-brain-injury-and-the-square-peg/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/traumatic-brain-injury-self-esteem-and-significance/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/second-chance-to-live-and-letting-go-of-unrealistic-expectations/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/traumatic-brain-injury-and-energy/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/traumatic-brain-injury-denial-and-limiting-scripts/ a 2 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/traumatic-brain-injury-and-overcoming-denial-%e2%80%93-part-1/ 2 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/traumatic-brain-injury-and-the-grieving-process-%e2%80%93-part-1/ a 7 part series

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/06/06/traumatic-brain-injury-%e2%80%93-moving-beyond-the-grieving-process/

http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/traumatic-brain-injury-%e2%80%93-freedom-from-isolation-%e2%80%93-part-1/
a 2 part series

Interesting blog. I am a six-year ovarian cancer survivor who has brain damage from treatment. I had sepsis and couldn’t eat for five months. My docs aren’t sure what caused the brain damage but my memory and processing skills are affected — along with my emotions.

Glad you started this blog and are sharing your insights. I was particularly drawn to the title, “How to Live With an Invisible Disability” because it put words to my dilemma. My adult children even have a hard time accepting my limits and they saw what I went through.

Thanks again for launching this blog.

Sharon

Have a simply phenomenal rest of your week and God bless both you and your family Gina.

Craig