Writing By Laura

I have mentioned these things numerous times in this blog: 1) The Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) I suffered 4 years ago has made me have intense aural distortions at all times that present as a severe hearing loss; 2) As a part of the TBI and aural distortion, my brain can’t process music so it sounds more like metal on metal noise; 3) I could hear perfectly for 37 years until the accident and injury. I have also written about how songs get stuck in my head with an extreme persistence (since I’m not actively gathering new sounds to add to my mental catalog I feel like old sounds get stuck in my head with ease).

Well, something that I realized this week is that just like real radio stations that play Christmas music from November (or October) until Christmas, my mental radio does the same thing. And being that my mental DJ is my brain… I can’t fire it! I talk about this and more in this week’s #TBIthursday.

Since Christmas is edging closer, my parents and I are prepping for Christmas nonstop. When you’re decorating for Christmas or doing various Christmas activities it is difficult to NOT hum Christmas tunes. The songs and sounds that play in my memory play a loop of Christmas music this time of year. It’s like having a radio station and radio DJ in my head only annoyingly I CAN’T change the dial or fire the DJ!

The accident that caused me to suffer a severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and coma happened when I had just turned 37. Which means that my mental Disc Jockey (DJ) has 37 years worth of Christmas music to play on a loop. And unfortunately commercials have gotten stuck in my brain too… so my mental radio isn’t commercial free. (It’s the REALLY annoying commercials that stuck too. I’m thinking of YOU Tom Shane from “The Shane Company.” ) 😡

I have noticed that classic Christmas songs have a heavier rotation in my mental radio. And when I am alone and not sleeping the songs ramp up because that would have been when I would have listened to music or a podcast. I had Bluetooth earbuds that I had on constantly before the accident. At work if possible I listened to podcasts. But it’s harder to have dialogue and especially conversational dialogue repeat in your head. So instead I have music. I was getting more and more into music before the accident. I do miss it… but on the positive side I AM more creative and reading more.

A way I have channeled my annoying mental Christmas radio is to make cards that use Christmas lyrics but make a joke out of them (I will share some of these projects in next week’s post).

Just like real radio, I am sure the Christmas music will fall out of regular rotation after next week!

Monthly Feature of the Week: Essay

Since I am approaching my fifth Christmas with a severe TBI prepping for Christmas WITH a brain injury should be more normal. It is and it isn’t. One thing I realize is that I am getting to know TBI Laura better. I know my limits better and I know what I need to operate optimally. It’s whether I listen to my body and do what I need that’s still a challenge (and this always was a challenge for me pre-TBI too). I give a lot of the credit for my increased self-awareness of post-TBI me to the work I do in with my psychologist.

Like I mentioned last week I really need to work WITH what I have and not AGAINST it (read that post here).

I have noticed changes in those around me can affect my productivity (duh). One thing I am very proud of is knowing my limits and expressing them. I have done really well with that lately after last week when I didn’t manage things well (overdid it working on a computer project and caused major brain fatigue).

The next time you hear from me it will be Christmas Eve day so we’ll see if I keep with these good self care habits.

#CreativityForDays Weekly Project Summary

I am planning on dedicating my post next week to my various creative projects during December. There was our Shutterfly holiday card, various homemade cards and postcards, baked goods and a lot of Pinterest decorating projects. And several creative gifts. So, because of that impending post, I won’t go into a lot of details on this creative project I am featuring. To give you a taste of my creations here’s the Shutterfly holiday card I made and we sent out. I have just included the artwork on the back as I also wrote a yearly summary (which I spared you from because you hear enough of that stuff on the blog.

A Selby Sweetie Conclusion and Throwback

Poor Selby is feeling a tad bored by all the Christmas prep. Her only excitement is when we get packages delivered and the UPS delivery man gives her many milk bones! The excitement today was that we gave him a holiday card and gift card from Selby! She was too busy scarfing down the milk bones he gave her to notice me handing him the card!!