Return to study by William Lo

Hey guys it’s Will, what's going on?

What's the latest? You don't call, you don't write. What's been happening?

LOL, all joking aside, hello and welcome back to a new blog in my series about young stroke recovery.

Today I am sharing my journey of returning to study.

This is a big topic for me, because the concept of returning to study was very different from actually doing it. I underestimated how much it would take physically, mentally and emotionally.

I found study an ambitious goal after stroke. With the benefit of hindsight, like many things experienced after stroke, a smooth transition to study required much more than I first imagined.

Transitioning to study was a process of coming to terms with my new capabilities and how I could use this knowledge to develop strategies to get the best out of myself. There was a lot of planning and many discussions with the University to make sure I could do give the work my best shot.

I have always been a hard worker and enjoyed learning, choosing to study Occupational Therapy was a goal that I had after my stroke – I wanted to give back, which was a good motivator for me.

I discovered it was best to acknowledge and embrace the difficulties I faced openly. I reframed the challenges as an opportunity to find creative ways to overcome them. I recognise that being creative in my thinking will make be a better OT, and my positive mindset made me a better student.

One of my strategies was to recognise the optimal time to do my work which is the morning. Concentrating and thinking makes me fatigued, so I reorganised my day accordingly with support from my lecturers.

When I am studying I tackle all the big, tricky things in the morning and leave smaller activities such as reading emails to the afternoon. By doing this I have found that I can capitalise on times when my brain is at its peak. Working this way, I am confident I am going to produce quality work on activities which are most important - like assignments.

Another tip is to get a neuropsychological assessment prior to transitioning back to study. It may give you better insight into how your brain will perform when you are studying. I wish I had done this, I think it would have made things much easier from the start.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Generally, school and Uni’s have some sort of support program in place to help accommodate any difficulties or barriers you might be experiencing. This made life much easier for me to manage the mobility, sensory and fatigue challenges I have following my stroke.

I like to think of the stroke recovery journey as climbing a mountain. When you think about it, mountains are just a large pile of rocks. It’s always going to seem insurmountable to place the first rock as there is nothing to refer to, but during the process of placing each rock it gets easier to climb up the mountain. The lessons I learned from each step, placing each rock, painted a better picture for me and took me higher up the mountain.

Eventually when I reached the summit I had a better idea of my potential and that is very satisfying.

Best of luck with your recovery journey.

William (Philosopher and stroke survivor)