What Can I Do Now That I Have a Traumatic Brain Injury? by Patina Malinalli

Author:Patina Malinalli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: traumatic brain injury, tbi survivor, christ and horses, finding christ in tbi, following jesus in trauma, god and brain injury, horseback riding and tbi, horses and tbi, jesus and tbi, where is christ in my tbi
Publisher: Patina Malinalli

The Benefit of Horseback Riding

I have always loved horseback riding! I actually feel this is one of the activities that has benefitted me the most in my recovery. Working with horses (between riding, mucking stalls, feeding, and so on) is a full body workout. I work my entire body in some way as I put my foot into the stirrup, stand up, lean forward and mount my horse. After that, there is the practice and skill of balance, which is always helpful to improve after suffering a traumatic brain injury.

The book of Job in the Bible is encouraging, because it tells us that Job faced many trials. He suffered much, physically, emotionally, and financially. Typically, at that time, donkeys represented peace, while horses represented war. The horse mentioned in Job 39:19-25 is ready for a fight:

“Do you give strength to the horse?

Do you adorn his neck with a mane?

Do you make him leap like a locust?

His proud snorting fills one with terror.

He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;

He charges into battle.

He laughs at fear, since he is afraid of nothing;

he does not run from the sword.

A quiver rattles at his side,

along with a flashing spear and a lance.

He charges ahead with trembling rage;

he cannot stand still at the trumpet’s sound.

When the trumpet blasts, he snorts defiantly.

He smells the battle from a distance;

he hears the officers’ shouts and the battle cry.”

You and I will be fighting for the rest of our lives against the challenges posed by traumatic brain injury. Defiance, when it takes the form of striving for achieving a goal, can be beneficial. Just as the horse mentioned in the passage is described as “angry” and “ready for war,” you and I have to do that every day and it doesn’t have to be on a battlefield. There is the fight to remember, the fight to regain your balance standing, the fight for strength, the fight to regain some level of fitness, and so on. For example, I mentioned earlier that I ran a half marathon. It took me three attempts to be able to run from start to finish. When I ran across the finish line, I did not realize that it would be my first and last time to run 13.1 miles without walking. Just a few months later, I had to have surgery on my trachea and was later advised to choose a lower-impact form of exercise, like lifting weights or yoga. I was able to continue riding though, and personally, that has helped me most.

The Satisfaction of Reading

I have always loved reading! It is a very relaxing activity. It does require you to focus your attention, but this has helped me immensely. Reading can help with improving memory – particularly with printed books. Truly, eBooks (like this one) are more portable, but they do not provide the same tactile sensation as turning a page (which I really enjoy, myself). However, It is easier to have a larger collection of books when they

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