BRAIN INJURIES

There's nothing more challenging than learning how to write good stories with a baffling brain injury. Over a decade ago, I was involved in a car accident where I was ejected and thrown from my vehicle. My mind went blank thereafter.

Three weeks later, I woke up from the coma, not knowing where I was or what transpired the night I blacked out. I suffered from multiple broken bones and severe head trauma. The dotors explained that I endured bleeding on my frontal lobe and a possibility of permanent brain damage that only time would determine the severity of it. I was hopeful that I'd make a full recovery, but hope had let me down once my cognitive abilities were altered making it difficult to process information as quickly as I once could.

Three years ago I picked up a pen and paper and began journaling. I wrote about past and present experiences, good and bad, I wrote about gratitude and the meaningful things in my life. I wrote about my long and short-term goals, along with my dreams. Then I wanted to do more with my writing so I began writing short pieces based on one inspiring topic and how I applied it to my everyday life. Then I wanted to write longer stories and that's where my cognitive abilities began to challange me.

Most writer's have encounters with writer's block to some extent. Some find strategies to overcome this perplexing problem. Then there's me, struggling for hours at a time to formulate an idea and/or finding the correct words and descriptions to make the story flow. Oftentimes, I'll jump to a different piece of unfinished work and switch it up and still, I'm stuck in the same adverse boat trying to develop ideas; not knowing what to write, where to start or keep the words flowing and it's frustrating. That's when the negative thoughts of 'not being good enough' enter my mind and that I'll never have a fighting chance at becoming an established writer. Most individuals who are inflicted by these problems end up putting the pen down for good. I'm not most individuals. I put my blood, my sweat, and my tears into this art because I want it more than I've ever wanted anything.

The key to success is practice, practice, and more practice. I want to believe that I got this and just because I have an impairment doesn't mean I'm exempt from succeeding at something I want to do to better myself. All in good time I suppose. A limitless sky comes with endless possibilities.