Endorphins and Right Brain Activities Help in Recovery

Grandfather Mountain

After every adventure, there comes that time one must go back home. However, you don't go back empty handed, so to speak.  You take back with you what you've gained.  You look back and figure what worked and what didn't.  More importantly, you work out WHY it worked.

What happened in those ten days away with my cousin that was so beneficial?  That caused me to stop stuttering and worked on my cognitive abilities so that I was able to go change planes AND terminals in Dulles plus go through customs in Toronto all be self when those skills were lacking just ten days previously?

My therapist when I saw her next, asked me what we'd done in those 10 days.  

We'd taken day trips with my cousin driving, we'd revisited spots that had meaning and memories from my childhood experiences including visiting the area in Winston Salem which held the tobacco processing sheds.  Although they were in the process of being torn down, a little bit still remained including a whiff of the tobacco smell I remembered so clearly from childhood days.

I took pictures - lots and lots of pictures - which provided memories.  Apparently reliving these memories through the pictures allows the release of something called endorphins in the brain.  Apparently endorphins are some kind of chemical release in the brain which provides a feel good feeling - and promotes healing.

We did have new adventures such as Grandfather Mountain and the Mile High Bridge and others,  Again, we took pictures.  Lots and lots of pictures.  Which help us relive those memories, those good times, those good feelings anytime we desire.  Which, if you haven't guessed already, is something I've been doing with these last few posts.  Even looking at the picture at the top taken on the way to Grandfather Mountain, fills me with a peaceful feeling.

We laughed.  We talked.  We shared meals together (she cooked).  In the evening, we watched DVDs from her collection.  We rested.  She made this visit about me.

My cousin affirmed me.  She's one significant person in my life.  She knows me ... and loves me anyway.  Unlike all the criticism and condemnation I had experienced in the workplace, she affirmed that there was good in me.  That I wasn't the person I was led to believe I was in the workplace.

My therapist affirmed that all these things were the right things to be done.  They allowed to right brain, the creative part,  to take over and the left to rest, the one which constantly keep trying to find logic in the illogical experience in the workplace.

I had brought some crocheting stuff with me and was even able to dress this five in doll.  (Remember I had said that I couldn't read books, recipes or patterns with my disheveled cognitive state when I left to visit my cousin?  Those functions were starting to be restored.  And here's the proof.  We eventually named her Penny and she now resides with my cousin as a souvenir of our time together.

*****

This isn't to say that healing was a one-stop affair, completed in one brief span of 10 days.  No!  It was the beginning of the process.

Recovery from workplace abuse seems to be a never-ending affair ... at least for me.  It's comprised of experiences like the one recounted in the last few blogs.  It also has it's darker moments when re-injury occurs.

For me it's a process of taking things slowly, analyzing what worked and what didn't, listening to my body, forming coping strategies and, most importantly, when I fall down, to pick myself up and try again.

Making Memories

The switchback to The Mile High Bridge on Grandfather Mountain

Grandfather Mountain

Ahhhh the sweet savour of victory.  During what I now call phase A of recovery, I started working on deep-seated fears which had controlled my life since childhood.  One of which was the fear of heights.

As I've said I've had a close relationship with my cousin in North Carolina which revolves around close communication.  At some point, I had looked up this bridge, the Mile High Bridge at Grandfather Mountain, and decided that I wanted to conquer it.

It's not really what it sounds like.  The ground is not a mile below the bridge.  At it's mid-point, the bridge is a mile above sea level.  But it is definitely a challenge, as it is high - and it sways.

The first thing on my agenda when I reached the safety of my cousin's arms in North Carolina was to tackle this bridge.

We made our plans and away we went with water, snacks, sun hats, walking sticks, sensible shoes ... and cameras to record this momentous occasion. Which was made more momentous for both my cousin and myself due to a chance encounter with a young woman and her husband.  As we walked toward the bridge, we noticed this young woman (standing behind us on the bridge with her husband) obviously having a hard time.  We spoke to her saying that we were both scared too but we were working on conquering our fears and we figured that if we could do it, she could.  We didn't realize at that point that she was with her husband so we invited her to walk across the bridge with us.

She did walk across the bridge.  With her husband.

Adventurous souls
who climbed the pinacle of the mountain

We did not make the trek up to the pinacle where these "wee" people were which I would have liked to.  Even with sturdy shoes and hiking sticks, since the path was narrow, rocky and had nothing to hold unto, neither of us felt that it was in our bests interests.

Next Stop:  Linville Falls

We made quite a day of it.  After Grandfather Mountain, we journeyed on to Linville Falls, a place my cousin had been to and wanted to share with me.  You see, she was on her own journey at the time.  A journey to lose weight.  She had chosen walking as her exercise of choice.  At the time of our memorable visit, she had lost approximately 100 pounds.  She told me that when she started walking, she could only do five minutes or so and had gradually built up over time to an hour? or was it more.

It was a hot day in June in North Carolina.  As we roamed around the paths, we received comments ranging from others either on our sunhats or our walking sticks from people wishing they'd thought to have one or the other or both with them on this hot, sunny North Carolina day

This last picture is one of my favourite stories, one which makes us both laugh at the retelling.  At a whopping 5 ft zilch, I tower over my shorter cousin who is 4 ft 10 in.  She had walked on this short wall to avoid a puddle and then realized she couldn't get down so she called me over.  Me being me thought she was presenting a photo op for me to take advantage of.  Thus the photo.  Eventually, she was able to communicate that she needed a hand down, not a photo.  Oops!

Heading Home Via the Blue Ridge Parkway:

We, or rather my cousin who was the "designated" driver, decided to return to Winston Salem via a different route:  the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway.  I had heard about the Blue Ridge Parkway but had never been on it.  I had no idea of what I was missing.  (For more information about the Blue Ridge Parkway click on the link.)

I had no idea what I was missing until we were driving along with vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains spread out before me.  There are many places to pull over, rest and take pictures.

As you can see, my cousin and I did just that, that day.

As I said, it was a long day, crammed to the brim with adventures - especially since we got lost on the way home.

Yet it was a fulfilling day.  A day in which memories, lasting memories, were made which even now help in the recovery process.