Hello and welcome back to Second Chance to Live my friend. I am happy to see that you decided to stop by to visit with me. You are always welcome around my table. As I have shared before, my traumatic brain injury occurred in 1967 when I was 10 years old. In 1967 there was nothing in the way of traumatic brain injury rehabilitation. Consequently, once my external wounds healed from the car accident and no physical signs indicated that my life was being impacted by the ripples from a traumatic brain injury, my traumatic brain injury became an invisible disability to me.
Nevertheless, I found myself running into one wall after another wall. For many years I internalized my running into walls as an indication of my inadequacy and inability to get along with people and be successful in life. Little did I know, there were other factors beyond my traumatic brain injury and my invisible disability that contributed to my running into one wall after another wall. In my exasperation and pain of running into walls – because of what I did not understand or fathom – some one I knew encouraged me to start attending 12 step support meetings.
He told me that attending meetings had helped him and thought that attending meetings might also help me.
Through attending meetings, listening to other people’s experience, strength and hope, working with a sponsor, working through the 12 steps and being honest with myself I discovered that there were other factors that contributed to my running into walls. Although I was still in denial concerning the impact of my traumatic brain injury, attending 12 step support meetings, listening to people in the meetings, working with a sponsor, working through the 12 steps and through being honest with myself I began to realize that the difficulties that I had and was experiencing were not all about me. I began to realize that I was not alone in my struggle to accept myself. I began to realize that I had the power to choose.
In my experience, I found hope — that I did not know existed — as I started to attend meetings. In my experience, I found the courage and the ability to accept myself for myself, as I started to attend meetings.
Please read Part 2 of this article by clicking on Accepting Myself when Family and Friends Can Not Part 2
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