I can’t believe how fast 2013 is going, It’s february 26th already and tomorrow it will be two years since my stroke. At times it feels like it has flown by and at others it feels like it was forever ago. So much has happened between then and now. I’ve gone from not being able to sit up or smile, to going to the gym 3 times a week and having my smile back, Not that I didnt have plenty to smile about when it happened, strangely I did. I just physically couldn’t.
I went from not knowing if or when I would be able to travel or finish uni to less than two years later - graduating with a first and ‘backpacking’ (dragging a suitcase) around Thailand and FINALLY I will be starting a new job as a marketing assistant on March 4th. With a training evening tomorrow, what better way to look to the future instead of the past on my stroke anniversary?
There was a time last year that I worried if staying in Brighton was the right choice for me, I hardly knew anyone and was starting to feel lonely, re-finding my confidence has meant that over the last 6 months I have started to meet lots of new people, am constantly busy and can’t imagine leaving this city for quite some time.
Having a stroke is life changing and in many ways devastating but that isn’t to say that there isn’t a life after stroke, you might have to do things a little differently and your journey might take a different route than you had expected but you can and will get there. It’s hard work, it’s tiring and it will have its massive highs and huge lows… Just take each day at a time, embrace any new doors it may open and don’t listen to any negativity. Had I listened to my negative drs/physios/occupational therapists then I would have never walked again, been how I was at 3 months for the rest of my life, slept through the whole of glastonbury festival and never have graduated without getting an electric wheelchair. I dread to think what they would have said about my trip to Thailand! Keep on keeping on and find a team of proffessionals who will push you not hold you back…
