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Brilliant TED TALK: Fake it till you make it!

I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "Fake it till you make it". . . .

My friend sent me this TED talk the other day. The only thing she said was "watch it until the end," and boy, am I glad I did! It's brilliant!

In it, Amy Cuddy, also a TBI Survivor, discusses how your body language shapes not only how others see you, but how you see yourself.

She says after her injury, she felt like she was living a fraud; that she was "not supposed to be here" (in graduate school, etc). For so long, this is exactly how I felt about my injury. All I could think about was my injury - - feeling like I had to explain my shortcomings. TBI consumed me. Thankfully, I don't feel like this anymore.
Part of my recovery was learning to explore like with a traumatic brain injury: what are my limitations. Can I still be happy? Can I accomplish my goals?

Amy Cuddy says that she learned to not only fake it till you make it, but fake it till you become it. Just watch the video as she explains it much better than I ever will:

Amy Cuddy's TED talk 

Suicide and TBI

This is a great article that explains why so many military men and women kill themselves after sustaining traumatic brain injuries.

The first paragraph is my favorite because it's a perfect description of "what it's like":

Imagine that you're hung over and haven't slept in two nights. You can't think clearly, can't focus or concentrate. You forget things -- even important things -- and spend your energy just trying to stay awake and drag yourself through the day. When you finally get to sleep, you drift off hoping tomorrow will be better. But it won't. That's what life with traumatic brain injury (TBI) is like, relentlessly.

I totally relate to this description - especially the part where it takes so much energy to drag yourself through the day and do anything. Don't get me wrong, I've never, ever been suicidal. I just know that if more TBI Surivivors were taught how to manage the effects of their injuries, suicide rates would go down.

Learning to live with a TBI takes an incredible amount of patience, and I'm so lucky that I was born with the gift of patience.

Read the article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ruth-bettelheim/why-heroes-kill-themselve_b_2108976.html

Valerian = my drug of choice (maybe?)

I'm on the hunt. 

In search of a new sleep aid. So, today I stopped in Dave's Health and Nutrition and was advised to try Dave' Sleep Formula. A lady who worked there told me she's had great success with this formula. "It just relaxed me," she explained.

The main ingredient in the formula Valerian (along with Straw Oat, Aerial Eyebright, Lemon Balm, and Wild Lettuce). Interesting mix and hopefully a good one.

The suggested dose is 3 capsules!! I took just one about 20 min ago, and I'm alerady feeling mellow. yippee!! I will take one more capsul in about 20 more min from now and then I'm hittin' the hay! I'll blog my results tomorrow.

Sweet Dreams (to me, hopefully)!

Taking Back Beauty

Last night my actress friend, Sarah Kent, introduced me Tara Starling. Tara considers herself a beauty architect (yeah, she's a makeup artist) who started the MILLION MANIFESTOS Project. The PERSONAL BEAUTY MANIFESTO is each woman’s opportunity to declare for herself what HER definition of TRUE BEAUTY is. Not what Society tells her, and not what the Media has taught her , but what SHE believes to be true about beauty.

As I was telling Tara about my car accident and my book, I showed her the smile on my forehead (the scar) and she said, "that's beautiful!"

It is beautiful! My scar is beautiful because it's a mark that reminds me that I've overcome a great trial which has shaped my character, and made me a more complete woman. This is true beauty.

My secret fear

(I wrote this post months ago, more like a journal entry, and never posted it. I stumbled upon it again the other day, and decided to go ahead and let any bloggers read my journal entry. Please note: since first writing this post, I've made more great strides in my capacity to feel "normal" again -- better, deeper sleep, greater endurance, and just plain-old happier. I'm not so frightened about motherhood as I was when I wrote this).

I'm pretty comfortable in my TBI skin (after 17 years). My strategies are in-tact, so my life works. I have a job. I play. I date. I travel. I exercise. I feel happy.

That being said, there is one thing that I long for, one thing missing from my almost-complete-life, and although I know this dream will come true, I'm frightened about doing it with a TBI.

The dream: motherhood

Victoria Tilney McDonough, editor at BrainLine.org recently, suggested I read the following article and it really helped me to feel better. I know that I just need to trust my abilities to manage my injury.

You can read the article here:   

I'd love comments. Especially those from other parents.

Sleep Tips (doTerra and good sleep hygiene!) from a therapist.