The world has brain injury.
I don’t mean this is the literal sense — as far as I know, Gaia isn’t in a coma — but the current epidemic of CoVid19 has hit humanity in a manner that is questioning and dismantling many habits and institutions of modern society. So, maybe it is not the world that has the injury, but humans that has been stuck hard and will require significant rehabilitation after the virus has been neutralized. I write this article because I believe this process will in many ways mirror the introspective healing process that occurs after brain injury, and recognizing these similarities will help humanity to find the most beneficial way to move into the future while better preparing for future catastrophic events. I use a simple method to demonstrate these similarities — taking one stage of recovery at a time, I present what happens when recovering from brain injury and this if followed in the next paragraph by suggestions of the similarities in humanity’s current crisis, suggesting how being aware of these similarities can assist us as we consider the road of recovery that is ahead.
For this comparison, I present the stages of recovery from brain injury as:
- Initial Stabilization from the injury
- Personal acknowledgement that an injury happened
- Recognizing that a change is necessary and implementing new life patterns
- Finding ways to maintain health
The above list is not taken from medical literature — as I was not able to find any authoritative list that states a set of stages in the introspective recovery process — but this list is created from a path I experienced over the first several years of my recovery from brain injury and I have recognized a similar process in stories I have heard and collected from other brain injury survivors.
Stabilization
First, the initial condition must be stabilized. In brain injury, this is when a survivor is rushed to the hospital and a medical staff works to ensure that life will continue to the next day. Thoughts and energies are focused on the immediate, on keeping the injured person breathing and the heart beating.
In our world situation, stabilization is what’s going on now — the containment, social distancing, medical personal on the front lines of healing the disease, millions of necessary workers taking the risk to ensure that families can have food, electricity, and communication — these people are keeping the heart of humanity beating. As I write this article, it seems we are approaching the end of this initial stabilization period — perhaps still months away from fully moving to rehabilitation, but it seems that most countries have the initial plans of recovery in place and the panic has somewhat settled — we’re going to live until tomorrow.
Acknowledging the Injury
The next stage is the survivor acknowledging the fact that the injury has irrevocably changed life. After brain injury, a survivor often wants to move on and forget about it — to put the injury in the rear view mirror and get back to things as before and letting the story become something told to friends — but the brain cannot so casually dismiss such an event. After brain injury there will be changes — these may be changes of attitude, of emotional patterns, personal preferences, habits, though processes, cognitive and physical skills — the exact combination will be is different for every survivor, but a person experiencing some set of changes is inevitable. Acknowledging an injury means recognizing that change and learning how to adapt. In my recovery, an example of a change I have discovered is a tendency for my temper to flair suddenly and quickly burst into an uncontrolled rage — I need to recognize this about myself so that I can be aware when such anger might ignite and quickly put out the fires before anyone gets burned. If changes caused by brain injury are not recognized and synthesized into one’s life, it will cause harm to the survivor and those emotionally close. Insisting that “things just need to go back to the way they were before” is a guaranteed cocktail of confusion, frustration, pain, and will quickly lead to disastrous consequences that often result in future injury.
In regard to the world’s current situation, the event of the Coronavirus Pandemic will never be forgotten — as long as there is a hint of humanity that can share history this event will be in the textbooks. We acknowledge that the event happened — but we also need to recognize the change this is bringing to humanity. The situation is showing the fragility and underfunding of healthcare and education, the necessity of food and safety services, striping away the false mantel of importance we have granted to so many jobs — and these are just a few of the insights the epidemic is highlighting. Social systems throughout the world are changing, and while the hope is that many of these changes will be temporary — that once the virus is contained, social systems will return to some relative norm — we cannot simply go back to “how things were before”. This virus has hit the world hard and we must recognize what can never be the same.
Recognizing Need for Change and Creating New Life Habits
Once the situation has been stabilized and the injury acknowledged, a brain injury survivor must learn to adjust to the physical, cognitive and emotional changes that have occurred. Adapting to these changes requires that a survivor create new life routines and habits that support the new way of living. This does not mean that everything must change, but a survivor must be conscious of what habits need to be adjusted — brain injury doesn’t mean you cannot go to the gym, but perhaps you need to adjust your weight routine — it doesn’t mean you cannot see friends anymore, but try going to a coffee shop instead of a bar. A survivor must approach the alteration of habits with an open mind that considers the reality of the effects of the injury — as discussed above — and create habits that support the new life conditions. This is best if done with the assistance of a team of medical and personal support persons that can offer suggestions. It is not an easy process, and some of these changes can go against social instincts that have been developed with a lifetime of repetition — yet recognizing and implementing these changes generally creates fewer frustrations and diminishes the risk of future injury. A person may need to let go of previous habits, but allowing changes to occur and creating new habits can let a survivor flourish in ways previously never explored — personally, by allowing necessary changes to occur and accepting what must be, I had to give up my dreams of one career, but have found doors that opened to joys never considered prior to my accident. Being stuck on the idea of everything being the same as before leaves a survivor just that — stuck. Allowing life and habits to change will create new paths that encourages a survivor to continue forward in the journey of life.
Let’s apply these same ideas to the Coronavirus Pandemic — because if we want humanity to continue into the next century, things gotta change. The underfunding of social safety systems and the capitalist focus on personal gain as opposed to a collective good are habits that need to be adjusted. This is not to say we should abandon all capitalist enterprises or that seeking personal gain is bad — a profit driven economy motivates and encourages education, innovation, and creativity — but living in a world where the motivation of money or personal power trumps community, national, and international health has placed humanity in a dangerous situation — the motive of personal gain mixed with patriotic arrogance has exaggerated delays in recognizing and remedying the spread of this virus. We must find a balance between social welfare the profit motivation. Notice that now — in the midst of this pandemic — the greatest increase in stability has occurred when states, organizations, and brave individuals put social welfare ahead of immediate personal gain, and it has been this sort outreach that is helping to “flattened the curve”. The focus on international healing is inspiring, but it does not mean that humanity will not revert to the previous habits of personal gain once this crisis is contained. If we want to protect ourselves from some future injury of this scale — or worse — we need to embrace a new awareness of the necessity of social safety and education programs. The habits of the world can change — previous motivations may not work as guides anymore, but by consciously working together humans can find the safest and most rewarding path forward.
Finding Ways to Maintain Health
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle after brain injury is important for a brain injury survivor. Eating nutritious foods, finding time for some moderate exercise, and surrounding oneself with supportive persons will support to the brain’s healing process. The logic is simple — if you provide the best upkeep and put the best nutrients into the body, the body will have more energy to heal. While this correlation is simple to state, it is not always easy to adhere to a healthy food and social diet after TBI — there can be physical limitations, confusion, depression, or any of the other effects from brain injury that can disrupt a plan for good health — but with dedication and by working with a support team, a healthy lifestyle will dramatically improve a survivor’s healing — the mood improves, work quality can become mere consistent, and previous skills are relearned as the brain continues to heal. It is commonly said that the brain has “two years of optimal recovery”, and after two years you’re stuck with what you’ve still got. This is false — hogwash. The body will continue to heal for as long as you let it, and by scheduling and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, a survivor will heal longer and more completely. The important thing is to create and maintain healthy patterns as soon as possible after the injury.
Creating and maintaining healthy patterns is what all of us — as the nations of the world — must do as we plan our future after the Corona Epidemic. It is likely that the majority of people in the world will survive this crisis, but it is inevitable that there will be deep and painful wounds that need to be healed — so many deaths, the pain of governments that were slow to react and initially failed citizens, an economy that has been stagnant for months — the aftereffects of this crisis will resonate in the world for years — decades — but we will heal. Yet we cannot view healing as a temporary state — it is important that we learn from this trauma and establish patterns and policies that support societal growth and health on a global scale — create healthy patterns so we can avoid a future calamity, or at least more adeptly respond when such a catastrophe arrives.
Final Thoughts
These are the parallels I see between the Coronavirus and brain injury. I do not pretend it is a perfect comparison, and there is overlapping of processes that occurs in the stages of recovery presented in this article — for example, where’s the line between creating new habits and maintaining a healthy lifestyle — but the goal of this article is to encourage a conversation. This is how I anticipate the steps of international recovery that are ahead of us and what I hope governments around the world are considering as we navigate healing from this crisis. Humanity will be changed by this event — but as with brain injury, change does not mean an end. Instead, this is a mark on the timeline of humanity when we are forced to examine how we exist in the world — and there is potential in this moment for us accept a change that allows a healthier international community continue a beautiful growth into the infinity of the universe. Or we can remain stuck in the same patterns and hope another crisis doesn’t hit.
The choice is ours.
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Thank you for reading this article. If you agree with it, I encourage you to share it with friends and people who decide policy in your area. Personally, I will be sharing it with my local and national representatives. If you disagree with me, I ask you to reply in a post that states your reasoning. My hope is that a discussion can begin as to how we can protect ourselves and heal from the coronavirus tragedy together.
This article doesn’t present specific plans about recovery, but my intention is to begin researching suggestions of recovery and sharing my personal commentary in this blog. If you have any suggestions you would like to share, please share them in a link posted as a comment. Again, I am not trying to preach a “correct way” to recover, but to encourage a reasonable discussion so that we can better find the best recovery together.
