With a brain injury, literally single thing becomes so much harder.
Daily life tasks that once seemed simple now become a whole event.
It’s like your brain is working harder literally ALL THE TIME, and each moment presents a challenge.
Cognitive energy becomes precious. Anything and everything can make you tired. It becomes hard to think through things and things take so much longer, and feel so much harder.
If you can relate to any of this, know that you are not alone.
One of the things that I’ve had to learn to do on my recovery journey is to prioritize what is most important, and do that first, so that I don’t spend my cognitive energy on things that don’t matter as much or that don’t necessarily have to be done that day.
I’ve also had to learn how to be kind to myself, and realize that if something feels extremely extremely hard, and I can’t think of words, and the brain fog is there- that I don’t have to push myself through it.
It’s important to recognize when our brain is over done, and learn how to stop, take a break, take some deep breaths, rest, and realize that your brain is still healing. It’s okay. You will get through this. There is hope and you will continue to improve.
Xo, Cristabelle
Amanda McKinsey
I believe that this goes hand in hand with the issue regarding fatigue. On top of your brain having to work harder just to get through what used to be simple tasks, you now have to fight through your body constantly trying to go into sleep mode. It almost feels like having anesthesia constantly injected into your body while you're trying to drive, work, read, go to school. Everything, as you stated, becomes more difficult. Yes, naps help, but often times, the events of the day are not going to line up with when your body signals that it's time for a nap. So then, what choice are you given, but to try and push through? Problem with this is: the more you try to push through, the faster your body starts going into sleep mode and only makes the current activity all the more challenging.