You Can!

When I started this blog, I decided to focus only on what I had done, not on what I thought others could or should do. It's been easy to keep to that rule, but I'll break it for this one post. Rather than saying, I did this or I did that, for this post, I say, you should think about this. I do so because I see this subject as being one that was critical to my recovery and to the recoveries of many others - the determination to recover ... the determination to still be the best you can be ... the determination to say, I know I have constraints, but I'm going to push them as best I can - this is how I want it to be!

I see determination as distinct from motivation. A number of websites discuss a motivational problem common to TBI called adynamia. This website, for instance, discusses ways of coping with adynamia. I see it that, to be willing to try those ways, a recoverer (or perhaps their loved ones) must first have determination. In that way, determination is broader than motivation.

In my post about kicking down doors, I indicated that my own will to recover, my enjoyment of kicking down doors, came naturally to me. I don't quite know what to say to others to help them find their determination. Perhaps one might think about why they would like to recovery. Do they want to be better fathers, better husbands or just better people?

One thing that I want to make clear, though, is that you can! If Johanna's and my cases indicate anything, it's that you have the power to do your best with what you have after a TBI. And, by doing so, you might well find that what you still have is much larger than what you previously thought.

What happened to you was crap. It might well be that the only positive thing to say about it is, at least it wasn't worse. Now it's up to you to recover from it as best you can!

And you can!

Cheers,
Mike