69. Survivor Science Soundbite: Stroke Recovery Grinding Through Recovery with Purpose

In this Soundbite, I’m wrapping up the week by diving deeper into the grind of recovery. From running to discipline to the power of showing rather than just telling, this episode focuses on the relentless effort required for progress. I reflect on my own journey from a wheelchair to running and the importance of sharing these moments to inspire and support fellow stroke survivors. Recovery is a grind, and it’s all about taking small, consistent steps each day to improve and adapt.

I also discuss the challenges of connecting with other survivors and building a stronger community to share knowledge, tips, and stories that can make a difference. Whether it’s about recovery goals, social media content, or the transformative power of perseverance, this episode is packed with insights to motivate you on your journey.

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Medical Disclaimer: All content found on this channel is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information provided, while based on personal experiences, should not replace professional medical counsel. Always consult with your physician or another qualified health provider for any questions you have regarding a medical condition or treatment. Always seek professional advice before starting a new exercise or therapy...

Transcript

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Good. We're walking back to another episode of survivor science soundbites. Today is December 13th. Friday the 13th. 2024. Hope you had a great week. It's been a busy week for me over here. I did not release a full episode this previous Wednesday. So we're circling back to Monday's episode where I talked about, uh, how recovery is a grind. I think we talk about that a lot on this show. It is a grind. I want to get back into it. I want to talk about it. Wrap up the week. Had a lot of conversations, a lot of interesting things. I did not record an episode. Uh, I did not have one in the tank for this past Wednesday and, uh, Tuesday was my son's birthday, my youngest turn nine. So that was exciting. Very busy week on top of that. It's a very busy week for school. Wrapping up the term. It's just a, just a lot of work, a lot of things going on, but had a lot of great conversations, met a lot of great stroke survivors this week. Perhaps, you know, some of them. Um, Molly from what's Molly from I forgot, uh, beyond stillness. So she just had an episode with bill G. Check it out on YouTube, Spotify, apple. You name it? He's there. And then yesterday I got, had the pleasure of talking to, uh, Rachel Abasi. Abbassi. She is from recovery daily podcast. Uh, also a stroke survivor, recovering alcoholic. We had a great conversation, a lot of shared. Things commonalities between her and I. And, uh, yeah, just a lot of cool things going on in the community. Meeting new people, new friends got this, a content creator stroke server content creator, beat up this afternoon over the center. Um, and survivor science. Which I'm super excited about wish I had gotten an episode out on Wednesday just to kind of announce it through the podcast again. But it is what it is. Hopefully you have a good turnout this afternoon looks like a lot of people signed up and then, um, yeah, hopefully we'll do it again. I think it's going to be an ongoing series. Hopefully it's useful. Really looking forward to meeting other people, collaborating, seeing what opportunities are out there, what other people are working on, how we can support one another and the stroke community. Just really excited for that this afternoon. And also excited to finish my work for school. The big projects for both classes are due this week and then, uh, kind of wrap up next week. So things should slow down going into the final week, uh, before Christmas. So, what are we talking about today? Uh, you know, I just, I had a bunch of topics. I had a bunch of things. I was thinking about how to tie it back into. You know, What we talked about on Monday that it is a grind. There's a lot of discipline involved. It can be overwhelming. It's hard to figure out it's hard to know what to do. I was thinking about some topics that I think we'll talk about in the future. Some things that are just thought about when I was running this morning or like, You know, adaptive sports and coming. To a point in your recovery where you're adapting things and what does it look like? You know, there's adapting in the beginning, but do you want to adapt longterm? I kind of think just kind of on my own journey. I never wanted to adapt. I really wanted to and continue to want to figure out. Not necessarily chasing my old life or chasing how I used to do things a hundred percent. But I also am reluctant to adapt in certain areas because I still think I can make progress. Um, five years out. I'm 42 now. It's not easy. It's definitely a grind. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with adapting. It's just, I want to see how far I can go and how far I can push myself. Before I decide. Okay. Maybe. Adapting long-term in certain things does make sense, but I haven't gotten there yet. It was just something I was thinking about. It doesn't really pertain to this episode. You know, but it is kind of, I was thinking about discipline. How do we tie this all in? What are we thinking about? For the community, you know, being useful, being interesting as a survivor, I think that's helpful kind of ties into the content creation thing, which again, this afternoon is. The content creator meetup, which I'm excited about. That landed me on this topic that I literally found in an email. About a half hour ago as I was kind of unwinding from the gym before I hit record over here. And it's really about the concept of, uh, the journey that I've been on. And, and I, haven't done a great job at this sometimes. And a lot of times, For a number of reasons. But I'm thinking about the concept of show, not tell. And it's interesting because it's all kind of happens at one point, somebody emailed me or actually messaged me over on Instagram yesterday, and they're like, We'll Hey, you know, I love your story. Would you mind doing a video or a kind of a series or a thing? About. You know, a life in the. You know, behind the scenes daily life of your recovery, your stroke journey. And I was thinking this whole time, I've been doing Tik TOK for a number of years now. Not, not the first couple of years, but certainly after year two, I think. Got into ticktock. Uh, been reluctant to get over on Instagram, but I'm over there now finding it actually quite enjoyable. It's a good link for me, because I don't want to commit a hundred percent of Facebook. And I know there's a lot of survivors and a lot of support groups there. Some better than others. Most are useless, in my opinion. But Instagram is kind of that bridge. Over to that world where people are kind of on both and they may not be on Tik TOK. They may not be on X. They may not be on other social platforms like LinkedIn. They may not be on YouTube, but it's a good area where a lot of stroke survivors hangout. And I've been beating a lot more stroke survivors as a result of being on Instagram more. Which is really kind of good. I want to help stroke survivors. I need to find more stroke survivors in order to be able to help them. Uh, there are not a ton on X, which is unfortunate because that's kind of my preferred platform. Given my history gifted, given my. Experience in the web and working in that world. But again, all of it is kind of around content creation. About discipline about the grind and, and this concept of showing not telling. Now, couple of things I've struggled with this show. Don't tell for a couple of reasons. Again, as kind of a creator and I hate the word, but it is important. I don't have a better word for right now because I want to create content that helps people. I want to build the community. I want to build resources, things. I wish I knew earlier, things I wish I knew sooner. Sharon spread that word. You know, search engine optimization. SEO is still very much a thing. However people are relying on more video, more social media, more chat, GPT, and other platforms that are similar to chat GPT less on Google. They're they're not. They're not. They're not, not going to Google. It's just becoming a lesser. A less popular option. There are other options. But like video platforms and this is the perfect way, you know, to show, not tell. And my reluctance around a lot of it the first couple of years is like, I don't want to come off as though I'm bragging or I'm showing off. And that's probably me as an elder millennial having been around social media from the beginning. All the way back to Friendster and MySpace, Facebook, when you had to have a.edu, um, You know, before it became public. And. That is. The wrong mindset on my part. I really, I try very hard not to be as somebody that's showing off or look what I could do. None of that silly stuff. Like, I really just want to show people like here's where I started. Here's where I'm at today. Yes, it looks insane. It sounds insane. But it didn't happen overnight. It has been a slow long. Hard. Disciplined relentless grind and progression from a wheelchair to a Walker, to a cane, to an AFO. To crappy walking to less crappy walking did starting to run. And it was barely running. It's still barely running at this point. Although it definitely is running. It is out fast running. It is not superstar athlete, marathon runner. Like I do run a lot, but it takes more time than I would like it to take. Uh, Which is part of the reason I've scaled back a little bit on my mileage and really focused on like, okay, this is a good amount of running. This is a normal amount of running. Now let's incorporate weights in the last couple of months, I've incorporated more kettlebells. More. Exercises that are helping with shoulder stuff. Things I'm really refining where I'm at, which is why this is a grind. And again, I need to do a better job of even the topic of this podcast is show don't. Tell. And the recap and the main idea is really that required recovery requires consistency. So does content creation. Small disciplined actions, small videos, Tibbits, helpful things, showing people the progression. This didn't happen overnight. You know, I didn't go from 530 pounds in one day. Did two 60 the next again, that's been a five-year process. I was talking about it with Rachel last night. That episode should be out next week with her. It's all about progressions. I didn't intentionally break down the goals, but you know, in a way I did, I knew from the beginning, it wouldn't change overnight. I tried. I really tried. As stupidly tried to fix everything at once. That was a bad approach. I've talked about that a number of times, but it is, you know, Linking it back to discipline. It's been a daily effort. Every day I get up, I'm thankful to be alive. I'm grateful to be alive. I had to put my feet on the floor. Get up. Stretch, do all the things I don't want to do. That's what really, what stroke cover is about is doing the things consistently. That you don't want to do because they are important. The more you can do the better. The more focused you put on certain things. Don't try to do everything at once. Every episode, I feel like I say this. Have your list, heavier goals. Break them down. Feed on the floor. Okay. Step one, check. You know, you may not be a checkbox person, but like that's, you know, it's silly, but it's, it's important. Feet on the floor. How am I feeling? All right. What can I do today? Do I feel. Like I get a great night's sleep. Do. And assess your sleep. How am I feeling? A little groggy. Okay. Take a minute to take an extra minute. Take an extra step. Again, it's, it's about progression. It's about what you can do each day to improve, to get better. Um, these are tangible things. They're feelings you're feeling, uh, allow yourself to feel them. And assess. Where you can go. Just keep taking that next step throughout the day. Sounds ridiculous, but really when you think about it and you break it down and you review your days, It probably goes a lot like that. Uh, at least internally. You know, These these efforts and the way you show them, whether it's on social media or just to how you show them to yourself, you can create self accountability, you know, build that motivation that connects you with yourself. I think sharing on social media is helpful because it can show other people. You know, It helps you stay accountable. It helps show other people that, Hey, this is possible again. It's not about showing off. It's about. You know, sharing because you want to keep yourself accountable. Other people cheering around. You gotta be careful with that though. You don't want people cheering you on prematurely, but you do want them to kind of, you know, everybody wants a little. Pat on the back to, to, to the horn to kind of keep going, like. That's how it started with running. I mean, a really, I did it for myself, but I was posting a lot about it the first year, at least on X and Twitter. And I met a couple of great people that I still talk to over there. About running and it's, it's, it's motivating to see what they do. I try to make sure, you know, I'm staying consistent. I haven't really gotten off track. Um, we're just lucky. It's fortunate. I really I've only missed four days since I've started total. And I got to be honest. I don't really need the accountability anymore. Cause I I've gotten to a place with running that if I don't run, I just feel like shit, to be honest. And that's why I do it every day, because I know it sucks. I don't really want to do it. If I'm being honest. But I want the feeling. I know I've built in the work to get the feeling, and I know I want to feel better each and every day. And running really helps me do that. It helps me cognitively it helps me emotionally. It helps me think out my thoughts. It helps me kind of just escape. In a different way. It helps me, you know, releases endorphins. It just gets my mind and my body really going for the rest of the day. Yes. Sometimes I could scale it back and probably don't need to do it as much. But I also enjoy it and it's, it's, it's, it's really transformed my life and I feel very lucky and fortunate to be able to do it now. And frankly, there was a time when I wasn't sure if I'd ever walk again. So, you know, Again, I worked remotely for a long time. I'd neglected my body for about 10 years, at least. I feel like five years in, I'm kind of paying it back to my body to really in my forties, you know, I want to live a long life and I want to live a healthy life. Hopefully the next 30, 40 years. And I know that if I, if I continue on this track, now that I'm on. I won't feel. The way some people feel in their 50 sixties and seventies. Um, hopefully I continue that. And if it continues to help in the way that it's helping now, I, I fully suspect, you know, I won't be in a significant amount of pain. Sure we all get older and things change and things happen, but you know, the goal is to really set myself up for the next half of my life. Uh, God willing. So yeah, again, uh, back to sort of the, the things is like, when you show your progress, you're not only tracking your own growth, but you're, you are inspiring others in the community to kind of take action and show them that, Hey, this isn't impossible. Here's why I started. Some people, everybody starts in different place. You know, I remember in inpatient rehab, January 20, 21, I was officially brought in there. I got so annoyed in the beginning. I think it actually helped motivate me because I would see the 70 and 80 year olds. Who had also just had a stroke and they were actually already walking. They didn't have a wheelchair. They weren't paralyzed. They were doing laps and I was like mother F. I'm half their age and I am in a wheelchair and I can't do anything. So I. Immediately got, you know, annoyed. I don't think that's fair to them, but. It's the truth. I got to know it. I was like, wait, I'm half their age. And I'm twice as bad shape. Like. All right here. I got to figure this out and, and that was really motivating. Honestly, seeing other people that were, you know, Quite a bit older than me having a stroke, walking around freely, doing whatever they wanted. Most of their motor skills. One place. I didn't know them personally. I did talk to a number of people in therapy because it was there. Two different stints for about 30 days a piece. And I don't know everybody that I saw, so they might've had, you know, more emotional or. Certain different things that I didn't have, but yeah, the walking thing certainly motivated me. I think from the beginning I wanted to walk. I think a lot of people that are paralyzed. Who are in a wheelchair and told certain things. Like, I think if you're in a wheelchair, You know, your first step is like, I want to get to the Walker because if I can get to the Walker, I can kind of figure it out from there. Not as easy as it sounds, but yeah. You know, it's kind of the progression at least. And you know, it was inspiring to me to at least get to the Walker. Cause then I knew once I was at the Walker. Okay. Abe we'll make progress, obviously not where I wanted yet, but getting from the wheelchair. To the Walker was a kind of a big step. Um, and it is a big step. I know it doesn't feel like that sometimes, but it certainly is. So, yeah. Back to the show and tell what does show not tell, look like, you know, it's great to tell your story. I think that's important. But Jay, again, sharing, showing in recovery, it's beyond just posting videos. You know, it certainly helps, uh, maybe first steps. It does seem like some content creators. I have help. I wasn't really able to show those things. Uh, cause my wife is handling the kids. I don't think my therapist wants to take videos. You know, I didn't really care. I was just trying to work on myself in the beginning. But anything you're doing sharing P you know, I see a lot of videos of people sharing their first steps, whether it's with a cane or a Walker. Things that they find that have made things easier. That's certainly helpful. Um, you know, these are some of these things are thinking, so I'm thinking about like I talk about breathwork a lot. Um, but I really should be showing more of these things that I do. The meditation, how do I do it? What do I do? You know? Again, why it matters. Really it's a mindset change. Don't think of it as bragging. Think of it as things you wish you saw sooner than you found them out. Like that's, that's a lot of my stroke recovery has been in many stroke, Kyrie. Stroke survivors that have been recovering for a longer time than me, you know, always say they started this or that because they, they wish they had these resources when they had their stroke. Because, you know, I think back to bill G or Molly, who was 21 when she had her stroke and is now 40. Molly, you know, is, is, um, From beyond stillness and Molly's gr. Uh, you know, I want to have her on, let her tell her story, but, um, You know, in 2005 or six, give or take. There was probably nothing for her. Uh, the social media was in its very infancy. I don't think anybody on my space was sharing stroke, recovery stories and journeys. YouTube was barely a thing. Even bill does 12 years out. It was still barely being shared and shown and he had to figure out a lot of things. Do you have the hard way? Same thing with Jason Lopes, you know, he's 10 years out from his first stroke. Very similar, you know, even 2019 myself, like there wasn't a ton of stuff there. I don't know if I just didn't find it all in the beginning, but there was barely books in the beginning, uh, back in 2019, you know, it seems like the last four or five years things have really changed, obviously. More people are sharing. More. People are speaking out. I certainly have found a lot more people over probably the last two years than I found the first five years. Or for three years. Um, So, yeah, I think that's, that's really why it matters. It does matter because there's not going to be. It doesn't appear it's those choke is going away anytime soon. There's never going to be that magic pill, at least not for a long time. So sharing these things that we learn is important. I really cannot stress that enough and I cannot do it alone. And none of us out there in the content creator space. Whether you're doing it, full-time, part-time aspiring, like just share whatever you can, whatever you think would be helpful. Things that like. Again, you wish you knew sooner things, things you've read things. You've researched things. Anything at all, literally anything. I mean, I probably should record this after the call later today. But yeah. So many things to share, and again, it helps build that resilience and that discipline for yourself and sharing helps build accountability for yourself. You start sharing, you start getting some likes, you know, you want to show up for your community. Even in my own case, even in the center, you know, the more I post, the more I share, like it's motivating, the more I can help answer questions for other people. It's all helpful stuff. And there isn't a lot out there for us as community. The more we help. Fellow survivors, the more. We can help other survivors figure things out quickly, because again, there's, there is research. There is stuff out there, but it's not well. Documented. It's hard to find. It's not even helpful. Half the time. The bigger organizations, when you Google things. You know, they have stuff, but is it the best for you? Like sharing relatable, actual stuff that's working. For you is the best way for other people to find things and test and see if it works for them. And I think that's really, what's great about Tik TOK and, and. A lot of people answering questions over their Instagram reels, sharing stories, stories, whatever, um, anything, even a posts. Even Facebook, you know, some of it, most of it in is not great on Facebook. I'll be honest, but I'm sure it could be better. I'm sure there are people who want better. So yeah. Again, the action isn't just about doing and sharing, but it's just about what you've done so that others could see what's possible. Uh, let's see there. We're getting a little long we're at the 21 minute mark and these supposed to be under 20 minutes. So I guess I've done a bad job of that. So, uh, Uh, let's see where we're at, where we're at, where are we at? Where are we at? Let's bring it all together. Okay. We're going to re. Recovery is a grind. We talked about that this week, discipline gets us through it, but showing those small steps. You know, it's even great for you to reflect back on and look back at over the course of a year, two years, three years. And again, it's all about, you know, share stories of things you wish you knew earlier. If you're several years out, you know, uh, I don't think there's any lack you can never share. Too much. I mean, you can, but like, Share the things that other people aren't talking about. I mean, it's not, it's not a competition. I wouldn't think of it that way and think about. Just the stuff that you wish you knew sooner, the things that you found out through hard work and effort, even if somebody else has come across the same thing at some point, like. The way social media works. Even the best videos may not necessarily get. Get seen by everybody still. Don't be afraid to share. Don't rip people off, but you know, if you had a similar experience, cost set, call it out, share, you know, tag somebody. If somebody made a video and you, they had a particular experience and you're just a pretty similar. And you want to reference their video reference it. It's a great word way. I believe collaboration is the best way to really. Build the stroke committee. Stroke, survivor community even bigger and better. Um, collaborations is the best way. Again. I wish there were so many more resources when I started. Uh, kudos to everybody out there doing great work, kudos to everybody else. Um, you know, going through the grind, really working through it, uh, disciplines showing up, continuing to show up, continuing to push, continuing to do the work. I'm going to say my voice suppor this afternoon. Um, but yeah, I think we'll, we'll leave it there. Uh, Uh, next week you got a couple of topics that I hit on the beginning probably might circle back to those early next week. And then again, we'll have a full episode next Monday. Another survivor soundbite on Monday before the full episode on Wednesday. And yeah, everybody, you know, if I, if you you're able to

join this afternoon at 3: 23:13

00 PM. Eastern. Uh, awesome. If not, you know, maybe next time and, uh, yeah. Have a great weekend and a Miami.