My last post was brief, and I wrote that I would fill you in on the many changes that have been occurring.  Well, I am on leave from work right now, and will be for an indefinite amount of time.  It has been agreed that my current line of work is not conducive to my healing process, and I 100% agree.  My job has many responsibilities, and is highly stressful.  For my entire career, I have worked as hard as I could, even if I didn't like it or was struggling.  It has been no different since I went back to work after my TBI. However, in order for me to truly start to heal, or at least not continue to decline, I needed to make a change.  This is one of the many changes, but one of the most significant to me.  I have been with my employer for my entire adult life since the age of 21.  I have devoted my last 15 years to my job. I make excellent money so that I can provide for my family, I have great benefits, and most of the people I work with are truly good people.  I need to heal though, and now I am trying to adjust to my new life.  
My kids love that I am home, and I am trying to still give myself some structure.  I still feel very stressed, and was told that it would take about a month for this to start to go away.  I wanted to get another job right away, but was told that I should give it a year, unless the perfect job arises that will not impede my healing process.  I have worked since I was 16 years old, because I like to.  I am now doing things that I used to like to do, when I was not so tired when I got home from work, like crafts and playing games with my children.  This has been nice.  I have a hard time reading without breaks, so it has been nice to be able to read at my leisure, and to read about things I enjoy.  I am learning a lot more about the new me, and now have time to work on becoming the person I want to be.
Though there are still people who do not believe the TBI could have impacted so much, and are kind to my face but not so behind my back, I have a great deal of support, of who I could not manage this without.  We will all face these issues and types of people, whether we have a TBI or not.  It is important that we know who matters and who doesn't.  If a person does not positively contribute to your life, whether a best friend or a distant relative on social media, they do not deserve to be a part of it, and you have control over that.  


With a TBI, there is a lot, A LOT, that we do not have control of.  You do have control over how people impact your emotions though.  You can choose to make someone's words mean more to you than they should.  It is important that no matter who you are dealing with, that you keep your head held high.  If someone is trying to bring you down, it is likely that you are better off than they are, even with your head injury- they have no excuse.
Until next time,
Rocky

I think this is fantastic.  I told someone today that I am grieving the old me.  There is a lot that has gone on these last few weeks, and I will soon update everyone.  The hard part about keeping up with this blog is that it is difficult to keep up with everything else too! 

 Please enjoy the picture, and please comment with any other "rights" you think should be on there- we can make our own!  
(This one is courtesy of Pinterest, as made by TBILifecoach/Facebook)