Tranquilo

I know a bit of Spanish and one of my favourite words is, tranquilo, which basically means, calm or be calm. I've always been someone who tends to get a little wound up at times, so, as I go about life, I regularly need to remember, tranquilo. Here, though, I want to write about how I think the word's also good for my recovery.

A brain injury often means the brain won't work well. As well as that, it often won't work well in surprising ways; in ways you wouldn't expect. One of the ways my brain, post-injury, doesn't work so well (and I suspect this is quite common) is that it won't quite follow what's happening in social situations fast enough.

Often, I find myself thinking, why did he say that, what will it mean if he does that, or, I'm not even sure what he's talking about. I've come to realise, though, the need for tranquilo; the need to remain calm, to stop and think through what's going on; to wait until things become clearer. Before I realised that need, I would quickly interrupt a situation to clarify what was being said. Then I'd be a little embarassed when that was obvious to everyone else in the room.

If, like me, you're quite an active person, it is a real issue not being active, waiting for clarification to come rather naturally than asking for it, directly. I've found that (not for the first time :-) TBI recovery does require a whole new approach, though: the approach of being tranquilo.

Cheers,
Mike