Traumatic Brain Injury and the Mission

Hi friend and welcome back to Second Chance to Live. I am happy you decided to stop by and visit with me. You are always welcomed at my table. As a youth, I remember watching the television show, Mission Impossible. At the beginning of the show the familiar scene showed members of the team listening to a tape, looking at pictures and being told about specific scenarios. Once the instructions were given a familiar statement was provided to the team. This is your mission, if you choose to accept it.

Life is interesting because we are given a set of circumstances that we can choose to accept or reject. Sometimes those circumstances may seem to be unfair or even ridiculous given the course we had set for our lives. Our efforts to follow the map we had constructed seem to be thrashed by the circumstances presented by our reality. We may have wanted to be dealt another set of cards to play in life. I remember when I woke from my 3 week long coma I thought I was in a bad dream.

My reality became apparent when I reached up and felt the right side of my forehead to find that my skull was depressed like a shallow bowl. I then found that my left leg was elevated in traction because my left femur had been fractured during the time of the car accident. At the age of 10, I was thrust into my mission. I had no idea at the time of the car accident that my destiny would evolve through my being a traumatic brain injury survivor.

The experiences, circumstances and opportunities during the past 40 years have prepared me fulfill my present day mission. During these 40 years I have had a multitude of other missions, some of which I have liked and many that I have not understood, appreciated or valued. As an individual with an invisible disability I have found myself confused, doubtful and despondent at times. Please read My Motivation. Nevertheless, more has been revealed in time.

Through my process I have found that my sorrow has been turned into joy and my struggle has been turned into triumph. I am not subservient to my disability, deficits or limitations. Rather, I have learned how to use my gifts, talents and abilities in order to fulfill my present day mission. Although I do not know what tomorrow’s mission will be, I have learned to trust the process and to complete today’s mission to the best of my ability. I am not my traumatic brain injury, functional limitations or deficits but someone who has a mission to complete.

You may be or know someone who is a traumatic brain injury. Consequently, you may be discouraged and despondent. I have been there too my friend. I want to encourage you to stay focused on your present day mission. Just for today, that may mean learning to move just one of your digits on your right of left hand. To you that mission may appear to be insignificant, but let me assure you that mission is not insignificant. That seemingly small mission will prepare you to fulfill tomorrow’s mission, which in turn will lead you to the mission of your destiny.

My experience has shown that each of my prior missions has empowered me to fulfill today’s mission. Today’s mission prepares me to fulfill my destiny.

So when you find yourself waking up to your reality each day, be encouraged. You are being deployed to fulfill your mission for this present day. If you are in a hospital or rehabilitation facility then your mission is to get well. Your mission is just as important as anyone else’s mission in the field my friend. You need not minimize or marginalize the importance of your mission. You are being prepared for wonderful missions yet to be revealed in your future. Those missions will in turn lead you to live your dreams and to fulfill the destiny for which you were created, one day at a time.

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.

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