Living with TBI is full of challenges for daily living. Here are some problems experienced by an engineer and what he did about them: Physically—I dropped tools and parts out of my left hand because it got weak easily. Mentally—my working memory had completely malfunctioned and I had a short attention span. Visually—I saw everything in double vision, kept walking into stationary objects and had problems with visual-spatial tasks. Emotionally—I was a wreck! I was anxious and felt like crying all the time. Each mistake I made only made my anger worse. Add in lack of sleep and afternoon neuro-fatigue and my life was a living hell! He then realized:
1. I still have long-term deficits that I have to deal with.
2. Everything takes longer to plan and do.
3. It’s okay to ask for HELP if I need it.
4. Getting angry doesn’t help the situation.
5. The less fatigued I am when starting a project and taking breaks during a project always makes things go much smoother.
6. I’m not the person I used to be and accepting the “new me” helps me move forward in life while living with a TBI.