When you have a spinal cord injury, it's common to feel grief when you think about what life was like before your injury. Here are some methods to focus less on the past and more positive about moving forward.
The memories of your life pre-injury can be painful, and dwelling on them may make it difficult to move on and find joy in your new life.
With purposeful techniques, and with time, you can move on to your next phase of life after a spinal cord injury without feeling so much sadness about what you've lost.
Although most medical insurance might not pay for you to continue physical therapy for more than a few months after a spinal cord injury, if you can afford your physical therapy and occupational therapy out of pocket for an extended time after your injury, we highly recommend doing so.
For many people, the end of physical therapy is akin to closing the door on never getting better again.
The truth is that the lucky ones who can afford to do so, continue physical therapy as an outpatient for years after their injuries and have seen astounding results.
And knowing you're staying in the best shape possible is an excellent way to move on as well.
Since sadness can be overwhelming after a spinal cord injury when it comes to missing your previous life, an effective method to get past this sadness is to discover passion projects.
There are many different areas of life that people with spinal cord injuries get passionate about after becoming injured.
Three of the most popular are art, travel, and adaptive sports. But, you can truly go in any direction. For example, some find passion in entrepreneurship, service animals and pets, and a variety of other interests.
After a spinal cord injury, many people attempt to be the same person they were before their injury, and in many ways, they still are the same person on the inside.
But when you experience any traumatic injury, like a spinal cord injury, the truth is that you do change.
Try not to worry about becoming the old you again, because that person no longer exists. Instead, be the best new version of yourself and take pride in what you've overcome to get here.
The importance of talking about how you feel whether it's to friends or a therapist cannot be overstated after a spinal cord injury. The worst thing you can do is to shut yourself off from the world and try to deal with your feelings alone.
Keep talking to people regularly, and don't bottle up your feelings. They will fester and continue to bog you down, making it harder for you to move forward.
It can be difficult to see your strengths after a spinal cord injury, especially when you're mourning your previous abilities.
To move past this, we highly recommend doubling down on your current strengths, whether they are talking to people, creating music, writing, etc.
Whatever your strengths are, they're now heightened because of your spinal cord injury, and you can easily use this to your advantage.
There's a time to be serious and there is a time when it is not required, and it is important to know when to let loose after a spinal cord injury as laughter truly does heal.
You may face a lot of serious and sad conversations after a spinal cord injury and it can be easy to forget your sense of humor.
Everyone with a spinal cord injury can attest to the power of humor. It helps you move on and stop lingering in a dark/negative mindset.
Taking a purposeful whack at building the life that you desire can be one of the most empowering feelings in the world, and this sense of empowerment can be incredibly helpful when it comes to moving on after a spinal cord injury.
Getting excited about taking an active part in building the life you always wanted despite a spinal cord injury, is motivating as well.
Also, try to think about good alternatives for what you used to enjoy when building your new life.
There are roughly 5 million people in the US living with paralysis, which means there is a large community of people you can connect with who truly understand what you're going through.
To build a community who will help you understand that you are more than your injury, we highly recommend joining Facebook spinal cord injury groups like Spinal Cord Injury Peer Support USA to meet other people who have spinal cord injuries and to share your experiences.
There are several online SCI peer support groups available as well through United Spinal that can provide you with a great opportunity to expand your community.
It is not uncommon to hear about someone with a spinal cord injury researching philosophy.
One of the most difficult things about moving on after a spinal cord injury, and moving past grieving, is somehow figuring out how to look at the world post-injury.
Many people will research popular philosophical ideas taken from Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, and others. Some may find the topic of non-duality particularly helpful due to the contrast of their life pre-injury and post-injury.
Thousands of years ago, the Greeks practiced a common form of philosophy that taught people to find joy in the simple, everyday tasks of life.
A common theme in philosophy is to find happiness with life as it currently is and to no longer strive/worry for a specific future timeline or to mourn the past; "living in the now" as some would say.
This is a fantastic method for finding peace and no longer grieving after a spinal cord injury if it can be achieved.