when life gives you LEMONS: rebuilding a business after traumatic brain injury part one

Welcome back to the blog!

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month, so I am sharing my experiences with brain injury and highlighting resources, writing about topics of interests, answering questions, and spotlighting professionals all month!

Today, I’m sharing part of my journey back to work after my brain injury.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the cause of disability for 5.3 million adults in the US. Despite knowing this statistic, I did not realize that two and a half years after my injury I would not yet have returned to my prior work activities.

If you’d like to learn more about the financial toll of TBI, causes, treatment, and more, please check out my linked blog post from September.

when life gives you lemons . . .

Pre brain injury, I worked full time as a movement specialist in a busy gym. Six days a week, I spent eight, one-hour sessions on my feet, working with my body to physically stretch clients, lifting and moving their bodies with my limbs. I assessed bodies in motion with my eyes, often while my body was moving to get a better angle (or navigate around obstacles) with many things happening in the foreground and background of the busy gym environment.

As a business owner I was responsible for all client management, communication, marketing, paperwork, billing, advertising, accounting, bookkeeping, etc.

I traveled around the country to teach weekend workshops as a Master Instructor for the National Academy of Sports Medicine, I also taught yoga at a local studio, I volunteered at my husband’s Air Force base, I was an ambassador for lululemon, I ran marathons, and I pursued continuing education regularly.

Being self employed, I rarely took time off; I even worked the day before and the day after my wedding!

I led a very full life before a motor vehicle accident stopped me in my tracks in August 2018.

. . . You learn how to make lemonade

Initially, I thought I would need to take two weeks off to let my brain heal. While that would be a sacrifice, I could make it work.

Spoiler alert: I took three full months off from my business before returning in a very limited capacity. I have not returned to my jobs as a yoga teacher, a master instructor, or my volunteer work.

When I returned to my work as a movement specialist, I was diagnosed as legally blind in one eye and dealing with significant balance issues, dizziness, nausea, head and body pain, persistent double vision, and body weakness. I had PTSD, depression, anxiety, nightmares, and mood swings. I had delayed processing, neuro fatigue, concentration issues, and memory problems. I couldn’t drive. I had a fifteen minute screen time limit (for the day). And I had a splitting migraine that wouldn’t let up. Basically, I had no business being at work. But I looked fine!

I struggled to understand what was happening in my brain and body. My doctors and therapists were confident that I would make a full recovery so I kept chugging along.

I tried everything my doctors and therapists recommended: multiple medications, soft tissue therapies, physical therapy, occupational therapy, vision therapy, speech therapy, cranio sacral therapy, light therapy, nutrition therapy, psycho therapy, EMDR, art and music groups, support groups, trigger point injections, Botox for migraines, home injections, cryotherapy, essential oils, massage, acupuncture, yoga, meditation, TMJ therapy, Graston technique, chiropractic care, Feldenkrais, fascial stretch, you name it I tried it.

While pursuing my recovery like a full time job, I was scheduling, attempting, cancelling, rescheduling, and recancelling my clients. I was keeping in touch with my other jobs, in hopes of returning to work. I was referring clients to other stretch therapists upon request when people needed my services and I couldn’t deliver. I was having difficult conversations with my husband as I burned through savings to keep my office open while not making enough money from my business to pay the office rent while I tried to get back to work. I was trying to get my body and brain back while keeping the business I’d built from scratch, functional.

These are the realities of owning a business while recovering from brain injury.

After eighteen months of denial, I faced the reality that I’d likely never work the way I used to. I started to look at what my future may hold.

Check back next Wednesday for part two.

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