“Our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds”

I have a friend from a TBI support group call me today saying that he doesn’t like how ‘people like us’ are treated in specific relationships….whoa! What do you mean people like us? “You know, people with our limitations…” Limitations?  I have no limitations…  “Well, you don’t drive”  A lot of people don’t drive.  Personally, I don’t drive by choice.

I went to COLLEGE, Longwood College, and I am so proud of that.  Was it hard?  Yes, it was super hard, learning to live by myself, right out of high school, balancing friends and classes and (FINALLY!) having the freedom, the freedom to choose.  To choose when to do classwork, when to have dinner, whether or not to go to this social event and WHEN TO GO TO SLEEP.  If I wanted, I could stay up until 4 AM on a Wednesday morning, studying for a midterm or working on a paper, all because the night before was a busy social night.

My anxiety kept right on, even after my freshman year and I was supposed to be ‘used to it,’ there were always tests to study for, papers to write and a room to keep clean.  My parents can attest to my anxiety by the amount of late night phone calls that they received.  Although I enjoyed the freedom to stay up as late as I wanted, my new found “freedom” may have contributed to these panic attacks that I suffered.

Now looking back on it, I would almost find it comical that  I was having trouble keeping one tiny room and bathroom clean as opposed to 15 years later having a whole house to keep clean.  Of course, I have gotten more mature and have gotten a little better with time management, or better at procrastinating and then working my butt off at the last minute to get everything looking good.

Maybe I have learned time management from Longwood, but I learned from Therapeutic Recreation [which was my field of study at Longwood] that nothing is off limits.  When a person sets their mind that they can or want something enough, anything is possible.  We must never put ourselves into categories of CAN and CANNOT, because the only limitations put on ourselves are the self inflicted WILL and WILL NOT.  No matter what is different about that person, no one should be put into a category.  A change of perspective is all that is needed.  It is all about a state of mind.