Social events after a brain injury are exhausting, challenging, complicated (dare I say miserable). For me personally, my social anxiety has gone through the roof. I am hyper self conscious and cannot get out of my head. Therefore, I always prefer one on one to being in a group- and I used to be quite social before my injury.

In groups it has been really difficult for me to talk at the right time. I can’t flow in and out of the conversation. I have to really think about when to say something, and I can’t figure out how to say things at the right time. This either leads to not talking at all, or talking too much when not appropriate. Usually I feel like an outsider viewing the group and conversation from above or some separate place. I am now an observer- not ever a participant.

I don’t plan to copy Instagram posts in all of my blog posts, but one more is very relevant to this topic, and easier on my brain than thinking up original content! And so another nod to the incredible community of those with brain injuries supporting each other on social media.

Thank you @concussionrescue for providing these points of advice for navigating social functions:

1. “Try to find a quiet spot away from the noise and movement.
2. Set an alarm on your phone for the time you think you can handle. Say 30 minutes. When your alarm goes off, go home or go hide away somewhere quiet for a while
3. If you can’t leave, make sure to take a break at least every half hour, if only for a couple minutes.
4. Take someone with you who knows your symptoms well. They can step in and get you out of there before bad TBI you kicks in.
5. Monitor yourself for heavy fatigue. Once fatigue sets in, then your filter falls away and TBI truthbombs can start dropping.
6. If you’re in doubt, don’t say it. Social conversations require lots of focus and awareness. This can get burnt up pretty quick if you’re tired.
7. Be careful with humor. How it sounded in your head can be very different from how it comes out with a brain injury
8. Try to think in advance about standard answers to the usual questions people ask.
9. Don’t be too hard on yourself. There are going to be embarrassing fuckups. The amount of times I’ve rambled on when someone asks a simple question or I’ve said something abrupt and interrupted the flow of conversation. Just accept its part of the healing process.