Traumatic Brain Injuries can be quite hard for people to understand, and I actually mean the person who is dealing with the injury. From my own experience, I never knew anything was wrong and was very forgetful. If I had of known then, what I know now; these simple coping tools would have taken so much stress of my shoulders. As a brain Injury survivor, stress is the number one illness I have to try and overcome. Some of us do not show it and deal with it in our own ways, for others, it can be quite a serious illness and lead to many other physical illness’s.
I realised this myself due to a decrease in my overall health. Stress had taken control of my life in ways I did not understand and I was not accepting of my own difficulties as well. But then when I realised the problem and accepted it. I made a few changes to my own life. Here are those few changes;
- White board – Weekly one – when rubbish goes out, washing clothes days, clean my bird cage out, water plant, appointments, courses and anything I need to be reminded of for that week ahead.
- Blank white board – Daily routine – Brush teeth, wash, get dressed, when to eat, medication times etc All these tasks have a time and I set the alarm in my phone.
- Pin up board – Those important letters, gas certificate, bills etc
- Calendar – Birthdays, paydays, I even repeat some stuff in case I miss it in other places.
- Phone reminders – Birthdays, medication, meetings, appointments etc
- I explain to friends who make arrangements – please could you keep reminding me as the event comes up.
I know this can sound overwhelming to many with a TBI, we all manage differently and are at different stages. No TBI is the same. But for those who struggle on their own, without family help and the right support (because lets face it, we push people away or people take a dislike to us because we are not who they think we should be due to lack of understanding) these tasks I put in place every Sunday – a day when I know I am on my own and need to plan a head if I want a good week. Admittedly, I can not always follow my own routine, but I practice in hope it will come natural again.
Hope this helps and stay strong 🙂
TBI Struggles 