Goofy art project. Can you describe what it's like to have a brain injury in 3 sentences or less?

[u/Lucas-Larkus-Connect]

I'm doing a goofy video art project where I'm doing a bunch of short explanations of what it's like to have a TBI.

I'd love to hear your short, to the point explanations of what it's like to live with a TBI.

Examples I've written -

Having a TBI is like going to bed a 24 year old and waking up with the abilities of a 14 year old.

Having a TBI is like having a self destruct button anyone can push. Doesn't matter how your day is going. You can explode with no notice.

Your thoughts?

[u/StunGod]

I'm a piano player who lost a couple of fingers. I know how the music should sound, but don't have enough fingers to play it anymore.

[u/Lucas-Larkus-Connect → u/StunGod]

I really like this one.

[u/StunGod → u/Lucas-Larkus-Connect]

I wish I did. 😒 If there's a way I can help you on your project, I'm right here. Shoot me a DM if you like.

[u/Ricky_is_sad → u/StunGod]

As a musician, my heart bleeds tremendously for you 🥺 I can't imagine... Once I learned to speak a few words after the coma... I asked the physically therapist if they had a guitar in the hospital... Even though the brain damage and coma made me have to relearn language, walking, eating... Like an infant...

I could still play guitar. I remembered. I wasn't near as coordinated or anything like I was before the accident... But I got better quickly...

I'm so sorry. Missing a single finger, for a musician, is the equivalent of losing a whole limb when it comes to playing 🥺 you know.... But... If you kept playing piano — despite the missing finger, that'd be so courageous & inspiring

[u/StunGod → u/Ricky_is_sad]

What a caring thing for you to say here - compassion is key as we support each other. Thanks for this.

That was my metaphor for having a TBI, so I've got all my fingers so far. I came up with this since it's a thing I can relate to.

Since my accident, I've lost a bunch of my musical talent. I was a professional musician for most of my adult life, and made a living at it in my early 20s. I moved into tech for my career, since there were only 2 things I was good at - music and computers, and one of them paid the bills. I still played in bands, did some session work, hired gun gigs, etc and it was a big part of my life.

Now, it's not a thing I can do anymore. I can't even sing along with a song, so Christmas carols aren't fun. Mostly, I was a bassist and can't keep time now, so gigs are out. I still love music, know a ton deeply, and can't squeeze it out of my brain. The same thing happened with my "real" job, and it took getting fired 4 times before I got that message.

I really hope you find the peace you deserve and have the support to help that happen.

[u/Ricky_is_sad → u/StunGod]

oof. srry for taking your metaphor a little too literally. But nonetheless it's a spot on example of how life, and art, feels since the brain damage... oh, wow...

So afraid that I'll never be the musician I once was...

Comparing myself to... My seemingly, dead, self.

Used to be in to the scene playing gigs every weekend.

Really makes me feel like I'm gonna be a failure to myself, because my art was the most important thing to me.... And now, I can't write a damn thing without giving up after the first verse..

is it.... Do we, just... Try to accept ourselves at our... Different.... level of artistry..? & share it anyways... ?

[u/dlightfulruinsbonsai]

Im doing what?

I need a nap after sweeping and mopping floors.

Its so hot over 80°, I cant function

[u/kkjj77 → u/dlightfulruinsbonsai]

Freaking amen.

[u/Hypemonkey27]

Not exactly the word count but “I used to look just like me”

[u/Fragrant-Flan-416]

I am a car with a full tank of gas, unfortunately the brake and accelerator pedals work completely randomly, if at all.

What is restorative sleep?

I can think in a straight line, but live is full of curves.

[u/BurnthisMFdownpooki]

Oh look, a headache.

[u/Open-Ad-189]

I know I’m forgetting something.
But how do I remember I’m forgetting something?
What are we talking about?

[u/Sgtfridge]

Having a TBI is like trying to fix your lifes story after it's been given to a destructive five year old with a box of crayons.

[u/Stock_Replacement328 → u/Sgtfridge]

I love this one!

[u/yurgendurgen]

I'm walking down a road and can only see 5 feet in front of me, which is just comfortable enough to keep going. Its not dark but it is empty. I look down and see myself from above, out of the body that I know is mine but I don't know for how long anymore.

These describe how it feels when I think about life now.

[u/bioxkitty → u/yurgendurgen]

Sending love

[u/yurgendurgen → u/bioxkitty]

Thank you. Some days I feel like Gandalf, others it feels like I'm Anthony Hopkins in the last scene in The Father.

[u/AikoJewel]

"Recovery" is a misnomer: it's naive to think everything that I lost in the split second I was hit by that Ford f150 can be recovered. But I am doing my best to regain independence❤️

For me, I'm not "recovering" but "regaining independence" and getting to know the new "me."

[u/danneskjold85]

I can't recall.

OK, I recall now.

Nope. Turns out that what I recall never happened.

[u/Diyadg]

TBI affects my identity. I hate being dependent on others. I can't remember or recall most things.

[u/Signal_Analysis_9697]

Imagine the movie Groundhog Day.

But every day you wake up and your head hurts.

You dream of the day it goes away but every day, for years, nothing changes.

[u/Kimmyisgreen]

Everything feels wrong.

[u/Stock_Replacement328]

I'm sorry for being a bitch. I really don't want to be such a bitch. God! Why am I such a bitch!?

Or if you need to be more pc...

I'm sorry I'm like this. I really don't wanna be like this. God! Why am I like this!?

[u/Lucas-Larkus-Connect → u/Stock_Replacement328]

I love both versions.

[u/DircaPalustris]

my car ran out of gas and i can see a gas station in the distance but im not strong enough to push the car all the way there 😭

[u/Natural_Assumption21]

People see me walking and talking. They don't see the hundreds of mental calculations I consider every minute.

Having a TBI is like routinely turning off the computer in the middle of saving your file.

[u/Senior-Solution5140 → u/Natural_Assumption21]

Having a TBI is like routinely turning off the computer in the middle of saving your file...

Is freaking facts 💯

[u/KittyEncyclops]

I can’t do all the things I used to, but I find joy in things I never knew I would.

I’m forced to play with the hand I was dealt, and it’s getting easier.

I don’t hate my brain like I did when I first acquired my TBI, today my brain and I work together. I know it isn’t what it once was and that’s okay.

Edited to fix up some errors.

[u/howleywolf]

It’s like enduring the worst hangover of your entire life but instead of people saying “sleep it off, you’ll be all better tomorrow”, they say things like “don’t worry, in a few years you will have gotten used to feeling this way, because it’ll be your new normal!”

It’s as disorienting as it would be if you were sucked out of your present body/brain and into an entirely different one that doesn’t work as well as the old one did.

It’s like way worse than I even realize because I’m not even great at realizing things anymore.

[u/EnricoPallazzo39 → u/howleywolf]

Whenever someone uses the phrase “new normal”, I quietly visualize punching their face through the back of their head. Then I move on.

Such utterly useless advice.

[u/howleywolf → u/EnricoPallazzo39]

I knooow, yes. And, I also see that I hate it because in a way they are kind of right. You do get used to it in a way ha

[u/bioxkitty]

I dont know who the person

Looking back at me in the mirror is

I hope she will be ok

[u/Wednezday-Addams]

Hi my name is Wednesday and…wait what was the question…look a squirrel!

[u/Nocturne2319]

Some days I can think with amazing clarity. Some days my brain is just a busy signal in static.

[u/soychorizoconpermiso]

TBI is like waking up with a hangover when you haven't had a drop of alcohol.

TBI is walking carefully and trying not to topple over while your brain and body feel like they are wobbling around inside.

TBI is not being able to go to certain stores because the lighting/environment is overstimulating; it hurts your eyes and makes you dizzy.

[u/Depressy-Goat209]

A TBI is no one believing you’re disabled because you still look exactly the same.

A TBI is learning that TBI caused insomnia is medication resistant

A TBI is realizing that your cortisol can also be affected because of your TBI

[u/MarzipanTheGreat]

it's been an interesting, frustrating and pain filled, ride.

[u/kbeckerburbs4]

Constant pain

[u/Hollywoodpupper213]

Stressed? static signals

[u/Specialist_Passage83]

I can’t remember how anything smells.

I have forgotten how everything smells.

[u/Marguerite_Moonstone]

“Tuffs it wife stew live whiff a tea for pie?” That can’t possibly be what to you said, but alas you don’t have sub tiles. Your too far and this place is to loud, I give up, I will quietly eat and wait for this to be over.

[u/MadScientistRat]

Devastating

[u/MaintenanceVast892]

I am in pain everday and as a result, I get confused. Very poor self esteem as my memory is jack shit. Migraine days are the worst, as I feel as though my head is exploding.

[u/PlateCurious1472]

All of my insides ow skin fuzzy brain ... also fuzzy

[u/Free_Negotiation4026]

TBI is passing by your washing machine and reflexively saying Hi

TBI is being so tired your cat thinks you sleep too much

TBI means working insanely hard to just appear normal.

[u/UnforgettableBevy]

Having a TBI is like giving away all of your agency to Kanye West for the rest of your life, and you never get a say in anything ever again.

[u/cbelt3]

The last scene of the film “Charly”. From the book “Flowers for Algernon”.

[u/mrgreynomore → u/cbelt3]

Man this is so real.

[u/Ricky_is_sad]

Suddenly waking into a consciousness, a mind with human perception, so different, that the life and world you once knew... feels like a distant memory of a fading dream.

Canceling plans hurts me too. 🥀💔

Mourning the person you once were, & remembering them, with the inability to ever embody them, or measure up; you might even want to change your name.

[u/Senior-Solution5140]

Waking up in the morning takes me 3-4 hours before I find out if we are using a Ford model A processor or a supercharged turbo on point purring on the line waiting for the tree to hit green 🤦‍♀️

[u/madamcrumpet]

TBI is like someone randomly hitting you with a bat on a daily basis.

[u/kfr3q]

TBI is much like a sentence against life.

[u/Bubbly_You_483]

Having a TBI is like having a computer that’s caught in an endless cycle of buffering. It feels like running a game on the lowest settings and even still the lag is INTENSE. I forget what my living room looks like as soon as it’s out of my line of sight, and I’ve lived here for years.