A Brain Injury Necessity – Maintaining Organization

There are some people who are just natural organizers. An extreme would be someone like the detective, Adrian Monk, as seen on the TV show Monk. Normal people need organization in their lives, but for someone who has suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI, an Anoxic Brain Injury, a Stroke, or some other Acquired Brain Injury, maintaining organization in their live is essential to both mental and physical health. Caregivers can help with this too. Adrian Monk is quite eccentric, of course, but I can sort of relate to some of his extreme behaviors.

After a period of time following my anoxic brain injury, I was made aware of the need to add some additional structure to my disorganized life. While at the Timber Ridge rehabilitation facility, I was given a notebook to carry with me wherever I went. The notebook, after I made the entries with help, contained a lot of the day to day information I needed to function somewhat normally. Since my anoxic brain injury had left me with NO short-term memory, I carried that notebook wherever I went. I referred to it frequently, and it eventually became a part of me. It was the part of my brain’s memory I had lost.

As time passed and I used some of the information over and over again, certain things I had written in the notebook moved to my long-term memory and I did not need to refer to that part of the notebook as often. Also, along the way, additional strategies were developed to deal with particular situations and I began to create new brain cells in other areas. There were still times when I was tired, frustrated, or was just trying too hard to remember, and for those times, I needed access to the information in the notebook. Later, however, I decided to down-size to a smaller notebook. Then after a while, I used an even smaller one that would fit easily inside my purse. Finally, I felt confident enough to move to an electronic organizer. That way, I could sync to my calendar at the office. Consolidating them worked well for me, but I would not recommend it to everyone. It would depend on your own situation as to whether or not you should combine the two areas of your life.

For brain injury survivors who are at the beginning of maintaining organization in their lives, there are some excellent tools on the Brain Injury Survivor’s Guide website . Actually some of these, such as the calendar, the daily journals, and even the inspirational t-shirts, mugs, etc. are great tools. There are, of course, numerous strategies we use that may be of help to you as well. You can visit braininjuryguide.org/braininjurysurvivorsguide.html to order Brain Injury Survivor’s Guide from one of several sources, or you can even purchase an eBook version of it. This on-line copy is really nifty. Once you purchase it, you will, of course, read it on-line. You turn the pages just as if you are reading a standard book. A great thing about this method, are the links “inside” of the eBook. You can access the information from these links and then return to your book whenever you are ready. Just like that! I think it’s really cool.

Maintaining organization, however you choose to do so, is an absolute must for someone with most types of brain injury. Getting some organization in my life after such trauma was definitely a necessity.