More Than My Brain Injury: It’s Brain Injury Awareness month #TBIthursday

Since March is brain injury awareness month I am dedicating each weekly post in March to brain injury. This week I am focusing on the Brain Injury Association of America’s theme for this awareness month: More than my brain injury. I certainly am more than my brain injury and I would like to discuss it in this week’s #TBIthursday post.

A list I made of what I am besides just a person with a severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Images from Pixabay and Brain Injury Association of America.

It’s a complicated thing to have a brain injury. If you are lucky enough to survive it, the process of striving to recover and improve is neverending and multifaceted. Because once you get stable enough in your recovery to make gains and real headway you find yourself both saying “hey, don’t forget I have a brain injury… so I’m different, ” and “treat me the same as you did before the brain injury.” This causes those around you to feel a little whiplash because what do you really want? The answer to what a brain injury survivor really wants isn’t so clear-cut as treating all brain injury survivors one way. We are people after all and our motivations and desires are multilayered. We are as complicated as our injuries. That’s where Brain Injury Association of America’s campaign of “I’m more than my brain injury” comes in. People are complex and brain injury survivors are no different.

I have been told by people after my accident that I am a fighter, a survivor, and inspiring. The sarcastic person in me thinks, “nope, I’m just Laura, and I am sure I have annoyed you before the accident, why am I any different?” People are just trying to be supportive by saying those things to me but by saying “I’m more than my brain injury, ” I am saying that I’m not all good. I’m not all puppies and rainbows. It’s also saying to see beyond the condition and see the person.

I have a lot more to say about brain injuries and brain injury awareness month and BIAA’s theme of “I’m more than my brain injury.” However, my little brain 🧠 is tired and giving me all the signs that I need to sleep, so I will have to share more thoughts next week.

If you would like to check out other Brain Injury Awareness Month posts check out 2019 (first post), 2019 (second post), 2019 (third post), 2019 (fourth post) and my brain injury and hearing loss page. And in 2020 I focused each weekly blog on brain injury and my featured topic: book review, pop culture, essay, and writing update.

Writing By Laura

Writing My Brain Injury Story.