Tag: self-help

Seeing the light ahead

I just talked to a friend of mine who is totally stoked about some self-improvement work they’re going to be doing in about a month or so. They are so excited, it’s wild to see — this is someone who has seemed to me to be almost clinically depressed. They just can’t seem to get their act together, and they always have an excuse for why things didn’t work out for them. Their energy tends to be low, unless there are lots of people around to lift their spirits.

Then, they come across this intensive workshop that’s being held for several days in a row, a couple of states away… it’s expensive, and the don’t really have the money… but they’ve heard incredible things about it from friends who once did it, and they’re doing what they can to get the money together and go.

They’re going. They’re just going. They’re not sure how — they need to get plane tickets and find transportation to the venue from the airport… they have mobility issues, so it’s not easy for them to hoof it around… and they’re starting to have second thoughts and pretty intense dreams… but they’re going.

They’ve committed. They’re going to make it happen. No matter what.

And the change in them is pretty amazing. Because this person who tends to be a bit like Eyore in Winnie the Pooh, is all of a sudden full of life and hope. They can see the light ahead, and for the first time in a long time, they can imagine a future where they don’t have to be held back by their demons, their ghosts, and the fears that constantly dog them.

And it’s a great way to close out the week. Because just hearing how happy and how determined — and how realistic — they are, really lifts my own spirits.

Good stuff.

Hard stuff, too. I’m sure they’re going to go through some stuff between now and then… but they’re committed. They’re locked on. And they’re going to fulfill a dream – to take this workshop and see it through.

It really is exciting when I come across people who are totally about making themselves and their lives and the lives of others better.

Again, good stuff.

Like The Better Man Project I just discovered.

Gotta run – supper’s on.

Be well, y’all.

Much better now

Is it my imagination, or is the NFL cleaning up its act? I watched Super Bowl XLV (or 45 for those of us using the regular numbering system) last night, keeping an eye out for the kinds of hits that have made headlines lately — and resulted in players being sidelined. I also sorta kinda kept an eye on Aaron Rodgers, whose concussions during the season caused lots of people to question whether or not he’d play.

When all was said and done, the Packers had won handily over the Steelers, and Rodgers was named MVP… which is great news if you’re looking for evidence that concussion isn’t an immediate disqualifier for the rest of the season. Or that having one or more concussions in a season makes you more susceptible to further brain trauma.

A lot of people have a lot of different perspectives. Dr. Mitchel Berger, a member the National Football League’s Head, Neck and Spine Medical Committee and chairman of the department of neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, said of Rodgers after a season of multiple concussions:

“I think his risk is not that significant or greater than if he hadn’t had any this season,” Berger said. “Having had an event a month or six weeks ago, he’s essentially back to baseline, otherwise he wouldn’t have been cleared to play. Once we clear a player to go back, based on the guidelines, that player is clear to go and really doesn’t have any increased risk.”  (Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/02/04/concussions-affect-aaron-rodgers-super-bowl-performance/#ixzz1DH4yugP8)

Some would disagree, of course, including those who think that anyone with a concussion needs to sit out an extended period of time. Dr. Bennett Omalu is such a person. He’s got a very different take on how to handle concussions among football players.

Dr. Bennet I. Omalu, the pioneering sport-forensic pathologist who first linked brain damage to tackle football nine years ago, warns that players are dangerously mishandled still—despite official claims this season of “safer” play through rule changes and “concussion management” for the injured.

. . .

Omalu maintains that every concussed football player needs isolation from physical and mental stimulation followed by lengthy rest, further shielding—as he testified one year ago for the House Judiciary Committee. “Two weeks is insufficient time for the recovery of (cerebral) membrane and micro-skeletal injuries caused by concussions. The absence of symptoms does not mean that the brain has healed,” Omalu, chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County, Calif., told congressional members on Feb. 1, 2010.

Two experts, two completely different opinions. Who’s right? Who can tell? But Aaron Rodgers looked much better last night, than he did after he got clocked back in December.

I suppose time will tell, over the long run, if the concussions have impacted Rodgers. For now, though, the Vince Lombardi Trophy is back in Green Bay, and Rodgers is MVP. A multiply concussed MVP, which probably feels like very good news to the NFL. See? Even players who get their bell rung a bunch of times in the season can still outperform the crowd.

Hm.

Well, anyway, I kind of got sidetracked with this whole Super Bowl business. The “much better” topic I wanted to discuss was how much better — and I mean noticeably better — I’ve been in the past few months. I’ve been taking on some pretty significant challenges at work as well as at home, and I’ve been branching out into new areas of my life, meeting new people, doing new things. And enjoying myself. During halftime last night, I was on the phone with a friend who’s going into the hospital for surgery today, and they remarked at how much better I’ve been doing. Noticeably. I told them it was kind of hard for me to remember how things were before, but they echoed my sense that going back and dredging up past evidence of impairment was not the best use of time.

“Just enjoy it,” they told me. “You’ve earned it.”

And earned it, I have.  It’s kind of amazing to me, but I really have made good progress. I’m clearer now, I’m more confident, more focused, more settled. I’m also a lot more stable. The emotions have either chilled out a good deal, or I’ve figured out how to manage my responses to them. I still have my moments, of course, but all in all, I’ve really managed to get my act together in some fundamental ways. There are still times when I don’t recognize myself or people around me — there are times when people who obviously know me come up to me and start talking, and I have no idea who they are. But I hang in there and interact with them as though I know them, and in a few minutes, I figure out who they are. So long as I don’t let things throw me, and I just hang in there, I can make progress — good progress.

Well, speaking of progress, it’s time to get on with my day.

This is better. Much, much better.

 

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