You may read the eBook by clicking on this link: Living with a Brain Injury and Learning to Take Care of Ourselves
Introduction
Living with a brain injury can leave us baffled and confused. What adds to the confusion is that once our external wounds have healed, we look “normal”. What was once familiar, no longer seems to make sense to us. In our attempts to adapt, we may find ourselves denying what we can not understand. In the process, we may find ourselves being blamed for what is out of our control. In our confusion, we may find that our judgment is challenged and questioned.
We may subsequently begin to question our judgment. In the process, we may have a difficult time trusting. Trusting both ourselves and other people. As our ability to trust crumbles we may begin to question hope and life itself. In the process, we may find that we experience a sense of alienation. Alienation from both other people and from ourselves. In our sense of alienation, we may find ourselves shrinking back into the shadows of isolation.
Isolating may feel like a warm blanket that keeps us safe from stereotypes and stigmatization. But isolation only serves to keep us from experiencing what life has to offer to us. As an individual who has lived with the impact of a brain injury and an invisible disability for the past 49 years, I have experienced all of which and what I have shared above. With my awareness, I realized that I needed to do something different in my life, to be able to get different results in my life.
The Good News
I believe and has been my experience, that there is a tremendous power in being able to identify with the experiences of other people. Other people who have had similar experiences, struggles and adversities. In my experience, I have found that as I identify with other people I find the freedom to come out of the shadows of isolation. I find, as I identify with other people, that the snare (s) of alienation is broken and in the process, I find the courage to be my authentic self.
In my experience, this process of finding the courage to be my authentic self – not someone I think other people want me to be – has been likened to putting pieces of a puzzle together. In this eBook, as well as in my 7 other eBooks I share other puzzle pieces that have helped me and continue to help me to be my authentic self. I would invite you to read through the articles in this eBook and let me know if you can identify with me. I look forward to hearing from you, as we live our lives with brain injuries.
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