Recovery

I know, it’s awful early on a Monday morning to be dropping emotion-state describing terms from the field of Psychology. But oh well, “I just can’t shake this feeling” (unintentionally stealing the lyrics from countless songs over the years)!

And as they say, the rest is history! After going to Krempels that first day to see how I could “volunteer”, I met a program coordinator in the lobby who instructed me to attend the morning meeting to hear about the day’s programming. I was hooked instantly! Struck by the ease and comfort with which members engaged in the community-driven program, no matter the individual challenges each faced, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of “I can do this too!”

Although I’m always happy to engage in dialogue with any audience that I’m given the opportunity to share my experience with, the “Casino Night” was more of a brief overview of my and the RAWZ Fund’s connection with KBIC rather than a Q&A. In sharp contrast was a presentation to a group of 6th graders I was fortunate to make this week with ThinkFirst: National Injury Prevention Foundation.

With July 4th marking the 18th anniversary of my TBI, the latest MTSB blog post pulls double duty: Sharing gratitude for my own recovery and the amazing opportunity RAWZ has given me to be a part of a dedicated team of people who've contributed over $3.2 million to helping people and pets since 2015 with pet parents and independent pet specialty retailers!

After all, with comfort resulting from the predictability of future events, joy and success being difficult to guarantee; the risk of opting for a predictable outcome of difficulty and misery can be appealing and achieved through self-sabotage.

After all, for this example, wasn’t it my fear of being assaulted again (fear), desire for self-preservation (self-seeking), hope for uninterrupted bliss (selfish), and view that I ought never experience harm (dishonesty) that led to the resentment?