Coordination-Or Lack Thereof

For as long as I can recall hand-eye coordination and myself have not been close friends. Coordination is a common challenge/symptom of one who has sustained a brain injury. There is a lot of brain processing required that requires time and is taxing on the brain. For example, think about trying to catch a football. You have to be aware of where the ball is, position yourself, make any necessary adjustments, all with a matter of seconds. The advice of "keep your eye on the ball!" Is just not advice to compensate for the neurological struggles. It's truly different from the typical human struggle of not being good at sports.

I try to take advantage of opportunities to participate in sports with my friends and I do enjoy, but overall, it's just not my thing! I don't know that I have ever bowled above a 75, I strike out at softball 98% of the time, miss free throws and drop footballs and frisbees. Not trying to be hard on myself, just makng an accurate observation here.

However, something that has been etched in my mind during the years of therapy and overall brain injury is this: there are always options! In my case, getting a group of friends together at the park with some balls is not really for me! But that doesn't mean that I abandon all forms of athleticism and socializing with my friends. I just try new things! And even better, I discover that I can do them well!

For example, I discovered that I love to run, something that requires much less coordination for me. It's allowed me to challenge myself to run the 5k, 10k, 1/2 marathon. To be able to complete 6.2 miles in just 58 minutes-something I am very proud of! And hiking has become an extension of running/walking, a new favorite. I discovered I can do a 17 mile hike in a matter of hours and still feel somewhat human afterwords! And doing those as a means of socialization? Simple. I have friends that I train with and we do races together, or there's a group friends planning a day hike.

The point of this post is not to seek sympathy for my lack of coordination or to get lauded for what skills I do posses. Rather the point is this, when living with a brain injury, don't let challenges trip you up from doing things you enjoy. A challenge doesn't mean that you need to abandon the endeavor, it just means you may need to find another option of doing it! And trust me, they are out there......