June 19 marked 8 years since I fell and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Eight years!
If you or someone you know has suffered a TBI, you know what the recovery process is like. It seems like an endless to and fro from one appointment to another to regain what was lost.
I could not read (and comprehend); I could not listen to music (unless it was classical or in another language). I could watch TV which I found odd and still do. It was about 8 months before I realized I could read more than a sentence or two and actually remember what I read.
And you know what? I was never bored. I learned that boredom is like a brain function. My brain was so broken I didn’t have the capacity of boredom. I joked (because to not joke would mean I’d have to cry at the sadness of it) that I would change my seat to change my view.
I learned to BE. I learned to sit in stillness.
I assembled a team of professionals — from PT, OT, speciality chiropractic, neurologist, myofascia, cranial...
I acquired this funny looking device (far left) when my ex husband died in early 2020. I remember asking him what it was. (Doesn’t it look like a polisher of some sort?) He said it was a massager.
I have since learned this from my chiropractor who uses a professional version of this funny thing: A massager is for the muscles. A percussive device (which this is) is for the fascia. That makes sense because John had had a knee replacement.
Once I took the time to learn about this device I found myself using it frequently. So frequently I did not put it away.
Summer of 2020 I had out patient surgery on my calf. One would think that a small 3 inch incision would not be a big deal, right?
Wrong.
For the first few days, even climbing stairs would tear the two layered stitches because of where on the calf the incision was.
I was restricted in movement and stretching — both had been daily, non-negotiable practices.
Fall of 2021 I was so frustrated by the weakness in my...
I’m sure you’ve heard that expression.
Some breakdowns are massive. Obvious. Ridiculously painful. And usually feel never-ending.
Some, however, are almost unrecognizable. If we are not tuned in, in fact, we may miss it altogether and “just” chalk it up to a bad day.
Some breakdowns feel like you’re standing in the middle of the room looking at your life as it is piled around you — a heap of junk that’s all broken apart and ugly.
Some breakdowns feel like ugh, I am too lazy to give a damn about anything today.
Whichever breakdown it is, it can be comforting to know your breakthrough is soooo close! You can’t push, pull, prod your way there faster. You have to go through the tunnel first.
Did you know that as the butterfly struggles to break free from the cocoon, that if you helped and opened it up just a bit for her, she would die? Her struggle is part of her breakthrough.
The same holds true for you.
Someone can lovingly...
๐’๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ๐๐๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ค๐๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ช๐ผ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐.
I’ve found She requires space. She requires respect. She requires time — not necessarily hours and hours, but time as in I’m not in a hurry to have Her come for a visit.
After spending a good year dancing with Her, it’s time for me to include YOU.
๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ?
If yes, then listen up and say ๐๐๐จ, ๐ ๐๐ข ๐ง๐๐๐๐ฎ.
I am ready to play with the mysteriousness of Her.
I am ready to meet this aspect of myself — and believe me, if you are remotely ready, She’s been playing and teasing. Perhaps you’ve just not recognized it as such.
Let’s do this. And let’s do this together!
๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ๐, ๐๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐น I will be hosting a free event for you to Meet Her.
One of the most surreal things about the death of someone you love is going back into their home. Standing amidst their life, their things can be very swirling. The unkept quality of the everyday mundane things: the fork on a plate with a few bites of food remaining. The untidy bathroom. The dirty laundry in the hamper.
These things speak to the suddenness of their leaving us. While the person has been set free of their body, their pain, their life, we remain with the task of sifting through their lives in ways we don’t typically think about: the random note on a piece of paper tucked inside a book. A phone number for an unknown individual. We get to wonder at choices they made that reflected a part of them we had not met.
And if you’re like me, some objects bring memories flooding back — some happy, some sad, some regretful. And then we get to work through the emotions that come along with those memories.
If you are a “This is Us” fan or not, but want...
A conversation with Aria, Grace's kitten. A bit of bonus content or backstage insight into the story of Living with Grace.
www.LivingWithGraceTheBook.com
I was presented with an award last week.
For being Self-Led!
I am so honored, thrilled and excited. Why? because someone actually SEES the act of being self-led as awardable.
Let me explain.
I am someone who seeks out opportunities to learn, to gain access to information and communities that will make me better, impart a skill I need, shift a mindset I have AND THEN ACTS UPON IT.
As a coach and mentor, I encounter many people who want these same things, but they don’t take action — action to get herself in the room, take out the credit card and invest in the course, the coaching, the thing that’ll collapse time for them and take themselves to their next level. They lead themselves right up to the door and then refuse to turn the door knob and open the door and step through.
When I first came into Joanna Hunter’s world through her My Million Dollar Experiment, her language profoundly resonated with me.
2021 has...
How comfortable are you with the Edge? The edge of where you are while you look at where you really want to be?
Does your tummy rumble with that excited fear of knowing you're about to step into something super exciting and desirable? knowing you have finally mustered up the courage to take a chance on yourself?
Or does it tumble out of control with huge amounts of paralyzing fear?
If the first option, I congratulate you on being brave enough to step into the Unknown.
If the second, I encourage you to close your eyes, pick up your foot and take a chance on yourself. Believe in yourself enough to do something that somewhere very deep within yourself you want This - whatever This is for you. You would not have the Desire if it was not planted there by God/Universe/Creator, your very Soul.
We all want More. We all want Better. The More and the Better just changes depending on what Edge we are standing on.
One day you'll find yourself looking back at one of those Edges and wonder why...
Sometimes the fear won't go away.
So you'll have to do it anyway.
There's a very fine line between the edge of not doing something because doing "it" is dangerous or not advisable and it's just plain so out of your realm of experience that it's scary.
Same thing goes with pain, pain management, and rehabilitation.
Where's the edge between pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone and it's okay and pushing yourself past the edge and suffering a set back in your recovery? Honestly, trial and error is the answer. You learn to listen to your body and know when to push and when to pull back.
Back to moving ahead into the unknown. The unknown bubbles up fear because it is exactly that: the Unknown. What if you go ahead and DO IT and now it's no longer unknown? Now it's an experience. And you know what? It wasn't so bad. You may wish you'd not done it, but next time you'll choose no from a place of experience and not fear.
I teach my clients that to get to something new, you have to...