The "simple" things...

Thursday, May 13, 2021

5/13 MORNING THOUGHTS

MORNING THOUGHTS

Woke up great but not too excited and showered although no poem came to mind because Thursdays are hard, not many words start with the th. I started crying a lot after getting out (of the shower) thinking I might be alone forever. A comment was made a long time ago that made it seem like a person is not supposed to be alone or something. I also want to be with the right person (was that J?), I know if he was right, God would have made it work [here is an example of the different people in my head)...but we do have free choice. I did have thoughts that W wasn’t right but the comments that are made about me never following through came to mind so I was going to follow through with this.

It totally cracks up when I think about Debra, my counselor, and how she agrees that “yes your thoughts are EVERYWHERE” with a crazy look on her face as we both giggle! It's odd that I go to counseling but because everyone's so busy and no one has the time to sit here and listen to what's going on in life and wait because I can’t process fast enough at the right time. Of course that's not at all why I started going to counseling as that reason is gone but it does rear its nasty head every once in a while.

A brain injury in itself seems to be a reason enough to go to counseling. Just recently a person commented on trying to keep up with all the things happening in my head and I was mentioning that my brain was going everywhere. This just popped in my head-- “maybe it's because of your frontal lobe injury and not being able to filter out what it is important and what is not. You are processing everything. That could also be why writing is so healing. A class I took was called ‘Writing as a Way of Healing’ and for me, writing is a way of healing.”

After the morning shows (Morning Coffee with Paul Cummings & Laura Messner), Strive for Greatness with Jerry Wald and Tom & Salud’s real life re-do, during the Filipino half-hour goodbye, Yvone kept making funny comments and Salud was laughing through the tears as she recently lost her husband after a stroke . THAT is it!!! This community is so supportive and accepting. (not sure I should even joke about this) but Salud, please don’t lose Tom as you travel (but if that does happen (God forbid) he is ALWAYS in your heart.

I will get to Kimi’s Kitchen sometime but my refrigerator might not have room. I am thinking I should read/talk about this live, I would like to also post my devotion at the same time (in the same post) however I have not even read/dictated a devotion for today. Also, out of respect for other people that have different beliefs, I should post my devotion completely separate. Now that it’s 6 hours later...I am going to have fun! Thank you everyone in my life for everything you do, I may not express that time but it ALL helps my livelong healing!

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

All In A Day's Work

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK

On August 3rd 2012 I started a blog not knowing where it would go. It was called The Simple Things. I gave it that title because it seems like completing essential (or non-essential) activities that are not really that big of a deal to many (most if I dare say) people have become like clearing a skyscraper to me since my traumatic brain injury (TBI).

For instance, most people have a routine of what they like to do in the morning and it’s pretty much the same way every day-- wake up, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush your teeth, ect., ect.. Everyone's order is unique and there are reasons that the order may change but overall, in some form or fashion we all get the basic things done every morning. Once you have a routine, completing the tasks are not that big of a deal and it becomes almost second nature to do them- when you forget to do something, you realize it. Even though you might not know what you are forgetting to do, most of the time you know something is missing. That’s true even for me, with a brain injury, and I think for my friends with varying types of disabilities as well. It might take longer to complete tasks after an injury or as we age and routines change. Certain activities may have ranked so low on the importance list or have become more trouble to do than they are worth and eventually such activities are nixed.

You might be wondering where in the world I'm going with this; sometimes I wonder that too...hahaha. Actually when I was taking a shower this morning this very thing happened; I was going through my normal routine: I washed my hair and was washing my body when I realized that I could put the shampoo in my hair, wash my body with the soap, rinse both of those out and once I put the conditioner in my hair to sit for a while, I could use a more perfumed, more “exciting,” or more softening body wash. The second body wash would be basically like a conditioner for your body! Now there is reasoning behind my order of operations performed in the shower! Phew! Like other things, having a reason behind the order of my shower activities makes the whole process less stressful and easier to remember. Well at least for me, having a reason will alleviate the stress of trying to remember the order I need to complete my shower activities.

Not every injury is the same, and from personal data collection after observing different disabilities, it seems that individuals with neurological disability are similar to a savant, a person who has detailed-focused processing. WOO-HOO! After “researching” (using non-peer reviewed articles) perhaps people with neurological deficits can be savants. Good ole Marriam-Webster explains a savant as someone with an intellectual disability that excels in a limited area.