Travel

I like to see different parts of the world but I don't like to travel. I need to have things familiar around me and going to a new place always throws my system off. My husband, Michael, loves to travel so I try to deal with my difficulties. Sometimes, I just let him go alone which he doesn't mind at all.

This past week, we went to visit my family in Kansas City. It was wonderful to see them since it had been so long. The picture above is of my 90 year-old grandmother. We didn't think to take a picture of my whole family. I had some quiet time with my grandmother and it was wonderful to hear stories from her earlier days. It's a time I will always cherish.

Since I am sensitive to noise, I wasn't happy when I saw a baby on our 30 minute flight to Atlanta. I love babies but I knew he/she would cry which is what happened. I used my ear plugs but they didn't help much. We had a break in the Atlanta airport before boarding our next flight to Kansas City. Atlanta is a big airport and it was crowded which was another challenge to my over stimulation issues.

Unfortunately when we boarded the plane, our waiting wasn't over. There was a a warning light on in the plane's control panel so the pilot couldn't take-off until he figured out what it was. Of course this caused the passengers to joke and laugh. I just wanted to get out of the noise but of course this wasn't possible.

The trip reminded me again how glad I am to have a small family without a lot of screaming kids in it! Perhaps I would get better at being in so much stimulation if I was in it more. I can now drive on the highway when I couldn't in the beginning and that is because I pushed myself here in Asheville to do this. I also can handle large crowds better now. I do use compensatory strategies when necessary but if I had a big family with lots of children, I would have to use them much, much more.

If you have a brain injury, it it difficult for you to travel? How do you manage this? See above right for commenting instructions. I still am unable to comment here do to a glitch but if you'd like to hear from me feel free to email me at puffer61@gmail.com

International Day of Action

Sunday was the day when all cities involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement came together and had some sort of action. Here in Asheville, there was a rally in Pritchard Park with music and speakers at 2 PM. The picture above is of that rally. Following the rally was the general assembly followed by picketing. Lorettas's Kitchen has been providing meals every day but I'm not sure they did this on Saturday. There was plenty of donated food, however and it was a great day.

The Asheville Citizen Times did a story on the occupation Sunday. http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20111016/NEWS/310160066/Occupy-Asheville-protesters-explain-why-they-re-here?odyssey=tabtopnewstextFrontpage This movement doesn't have any leaders and it''s been hard for people to pin down exactly what the demands are. When I attended the General Assembly, we broke up into working groups and I sat in on a group trying to come up with specific demands. A proposal will come before the General Assembly which will then decide by consensus whether to support this proposal.

I support this movement 100% but it is not a good project for someone with a brain injury to be involved in. Due to my frontal lobe injuries, I need structure and organizing anything is very difficult for me. This movement has no structure and is figuring things out as it goes along. Yesterday I was fortunate to sit next to a couple of folks involved in the organizing process and listened in on their conversation. They mentioned many of the things I've been concerned about. I was impressed with their thoughts and it gave me hope that this movement is going somewhere. I don't need to step up for there are others willing and able to do this.

Let me mention a couple of my challenges. I've mentioned cognitive overload before and it was really a problem for me during the meetings. So much goes on and I have to "rest my brain." Toward the end of the rally I knew that I needed to go somewhere, put in my ear plugs and sit quietly for a few minutes. The problem was, we were at Pritchard Park in downtown Asheville so there really was no place for me to go. I ended up walking to the back of the park and finding a place by a wall and under a tree. I put in my ear plugs and sat down on the ground next to the wall. The ear plugs didn't block all the sound but it was enough. When I heard the meeting was about to begin, I joined it again.

It is difficult for me to focus and to pay attention in these types of environments. I have discovered the best way for me to focus is to sit near the front. I've gone to two other partial general assemblies and I sat in the back. This caused problems because I kept hearing people talking around me and I could not focus. This time I decided I would sit right in the front. I found a place for the rally but when I left to "rest my brain" for a few minutes, I had to find another place in front. I felt a little uncomfortable moving to the front like I did, but I knew it was the only way I would be able to focus on the conversation.

I wish I could remember names! I watched Sunday's meeting last night on the live stream and one of the organizers said something about homeless folks and I had some resources to share. I didn't know his name so I spent a good part of today sending emails to the facebook group. I finally reached someone by messaging on facebook. I don't even know if my resources would do any good but at least I got them to the right place. I'm going to start a file with a list of the names of different people from the group. There is a facebook page with 3000+ members and I'm forever getting confused as to who is who.

I plan to set limits as I do with other things that are difficult for me. I won't be able to attend many general assemblies but I will attend the ones I can. I plan to read the information on the web site and listen to the live stream. I really support this and I want to be involved in any way I can.

If you are a brain injury survivor, are there things that are difficult for you to do yet you still try to do them? Is it hard for you to accept this fact? Do you find compensatory strategies to do those things? See above right for commenting instructions. I'm still not able to respond to your comments here do to technical difficulties but feel free to contact me directly at Puffer61@gmail.com if you'd like a response.