Hello and welcome back to Second Chance to Live my friend. I am happy to have you back around my table. I am honored by your presence. Last evening I listened to the tail end of a radio program. The radio program’s focus was on regaining dignity after experiencing a traumatic brain injury. While listening to the radio program I felt led to share several thoughts with the listeners, however because of a lack of time I did not have that opportunity.
I would like to share those thoughts with you in this article. In my experience – as you may already know – my tbi occurred in 1967 when I was 10 years old. For many years I remained unaware of how my traumatic brain injury impacted my life, my relationships and my well-being. In my experience, I found that my dignity was repeatedly dashed upon the rocks of disappointment, disillusionment and discouragement because I could not accept myself for who I was as an individual.
I had a difficult time accepting myself because I lived with a prevailing sense of SHAME — Should Have Already Mastered Everything. My sense of shame drove my life and would not allow me to have dignity. As I have shared in previous articles, in an attempt to quiet the voice of shame I strove to overcompensate for what I did not understand. I strove to do more, to be more so that I would feel as though I was enough. Nevertheless, I rarely felt satisfied with my efforts, because I was looking for validation from outside of myself.
Approximately 6 or 7 years ago the pain of denying my reality exceeded the pain of defending my reality. My pain motivated me to examine my life in the context of my reality. My examination helped me to begin to live my life in a new way. My examination taught me how I could live my life in dignity and self-respect. Let me share several principles I learned.
Please read Part 2 of this article by clicking here.
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