Please share this eBook with anyone whom you know that is living with a traumatic or acquired brain injury and may be struggling with their sense of worth, value, self-esteem and self-acceptance. Thank you.
Introduction
Self-esteem and self-acceptance can be an elusive. Hard to define and difficult to grasp. Never the less, without self-esteem and self-acceptance the individual becomes vulnerable to being victimized, controlled and manipulated. This vulnerability is exacerbated after we experience a brain injury because of what we don’t know or understand. Knowing who we are as an individual is blurred by what used to work for us, but no longer works. Works for us as we relate to other people and ourselves. As a result, we can feel overwhelmed, by guessing at what is normal after our brain injury as we relate to our world.
Overwhelmed, because of what other people don’t understand after our brain injury. Consequently, our self-esteem and self-acceptance diminishes as we have a difficulty relating to both ourselves and other people after our brain injuries. As a result, we may find ourselves stuck. For many years I had no idea who I was apart from what other people communicated to me, about me; and how they interacted. Consequently, as an individual living with a brain injury and an invisible disability; I found myself trading my judgment for what other people thought and believed. In the process, I found myself.
Found myself being blamed for matters that were out of my control. In the process, I was led to believe that I did not merely make mistakes, but that I was a mistake. This belief undermined my self-esteem, self-acceptance and my ability to related to myself and other people, because I had no idea where I began and other people ended. My low sense of self-esteem and self-acceptance continued to fester until I reached a point in time when I realized what I was doing to myself. It was at this point in time that I started a recovery process. My recovery process helped me to begin to grow in awareness.
To grow in awareness, acceptance and the ability to take action. As I realized that I could live my life in a different way I discovered hope. I discovered that I could create hope in my life and in the process build my sense of “self” apart from what other people wanted or needed to believe. Needed to believe about my reality and what they wanted me to believe about myself. Believe about myself so that I would not challenge the way they wanted or needed to see me. But, as my sense of self increased (where other people ended and I began) so did my ability to grow in both self-esteem and self-acceptance.
My ongoing recovery process gave me the tools to build my self-esteem, self-acceptance and self-respect. In this eBook I share the awareness’s that I gained. That I gained that helped me to grow in self-acceptance. Self-acceptance that gave me the courage and ability to take action. Action that helped me to grow in both self-acceptance and self-esteem. As you read the articles in this eBook, may you too grow in both awareness and acceptance of who you are after your brain injury. Grow in your ability to take a different course of action that will help you to grow in self-acceptance and self-esteem as you relate to yourself.
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