Reinventing Oneself

Plan B

Grow In Grace Everyone Has the ability To better your own life And better the life of another Grow In Grace

As I See It Disconnected cocked eyes shifting right double vision blurry confusion Moving colors running a-muck. Life, as I see it, full of bumps and unknown stuff. This disjointed, lively, multicolored texture gives me the chance to see the world in a whole new way.

Ghost Through the torn fabric of memory, my life long love of horses comes charging through. Galloping, tearing through space, as if to run me over. In tears I throw my hands up and yell, “STOP”! But grief’s hole has a healing time of its own. So I step aside in awe as I watch the powerful beauty fly by, remembering the feeling of our two spirits in flight. I smile, for I had the gift of being carried on hoofed wings in my previous life. Now is the time to solo fly.

Heart of Gold Giving, forgiving, caring, flowing towards others. You could be the answer to someone’s prayers. Leaving a heart open, unprotected, giving so much that boundaries are forgotten. Bleeding out, fatigued, misunderstood. All it takes is a moment of misinterpretation for vulnerability to punch a hole into the heart. Medicine and totem teach us to look at both sides of our coin while Ying and Yang teach us balance. Take both of these teachings, for it is important to nurture our heart of gold, have boundaries that allow flow, find balance, give, forgive and care. In this way, you could be the answer to someone’s prayers using your heart of gold.

The Great Pretender (fake it until you make it) Smile first: joy will follow Smile: your body will tag along Smile: to inspire others Use the tough times to grow stronger and smile by faith. Joyce Meyer

Exhibit 5

So, I thought that the process of reinventing oneself after a brain injury would include spiraling in and out of the 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining depression and acceptance and then I would be done with the emotional healing and become a new person.

So, then, I thought I would go through the steps of recovery, rehab, recalculating and reinventing myself, and again, I would be done and move on. But apparently that too, did not happen as I had thought and planned. So, on to Plan B. My son has suggested that maybe I have reinvented myself as an educator, supporter and advocate by turning myself into an art and writing exhibit maker. It is ironic if you have been following my exhibits over the past two years. I always believed I would follow this invisible process of healing and moving forward and reinvent myself as something, anything, but it never occurred to me that my reinvention would be the continuation of my healing process. I thought the healing process would come to an end, it would be over and I would step into a new me. So, I continue on and since Plan A didn’t happen, I’ll move on to Plan B: doing as I have been doing since I received this head injury: making art with writings on the process of healing and reinventing after a brain injury and start to develop Plan C.

Recovery After a Brain Injury | Brain Injury Rehab | Recalculating Life After Rehab | Repurposing | Plan B | Leap of Faith | Tears in a Bottle | Spring