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Inspirational of Humorous Messages for Rehab

RenaeEon July 01, 2021

6 Comments

When I was in hospital and rehab, both inpatient and outpatient, I often found myself mindlessly scanning the ceilings and walls looking for something to take my interest. Early on I didn't really like to watch TV much nor could I operate the remote. As I got further into rehab, I was looking for things to distract my mind from the exercise, pain, boredom whatever the feeling may have been. Music helped of course at times, but it wasn't always available or appropriate. The various rooms I occupied mostly had blank walls with the occasional poster depicting the musculoskeletal system, OH&S message or CPR, all kind of boring after the first read. I wished I had thought of doing it earlier and not as a discharge gift after 21 months. I was thinking what I would have appreciated during my time in there and I thought of things on the wall to look at or read, that held my interest or made me feel better in some way. I busily started gathering the things I would have liked to have seen hoping they would resonate with others also. I printed them off and framed them and the staff got them put in the gym and therapy room. They were a hit. I have been told by staff when I catch up with them, that they always see patients reading them. They said the patients always comment after their first read how good they are. It makes me feel great knowing I could change someone's perspective for the better in some small way. I would love for this idea to spread far and wide if we can. It would help people dealing with all types of medical issues, not just stroke. It is just a small thing but I feel like it could have a big impact. I will post some of the material I have and would love to see any that are special to you. I keep a recipe holder with about 50 A4 pages of ideas that I have on rotation on our dining room table. The kids will tell me if I have forgotten to change it in a while, so they must take notice too. It is a bit similar to cafes that write things on blackboards out the front.

6 Responses

RenaeE

01/07/2021 04:58

So each line is on one piece of A4, each line is a separate frame

Your body can withstand almost anything, it is your mind that you must convince

Courage doesn’t always roar sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying I will try again tomorrow…

The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us but those who win battles we know nothing about

The pain of recovery is often greater than the pain of injury. Healing is worth it, don’t give up

You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy!

Never trust your fears, they don’t know your strengths

Strength grows in the moments when you feel you can’t go on but you do anyway

Whether you think you can or you think you can’t…You are right

If it doesn’t challenge you it won’t change you

RenaeE

01/07/2021 05:00

This one goes on the one page

It will hurt

It will take time

It will require dedication

It will require will power

It will require sacrifice

You will need to push your body

There will be temptation

But I promise you

When you reach your goals

It will be worth it…

RenaeE

01/07/2021 05:23

Something a little different....

Some things break your heart but fix your vision

Not all storms come to interrupt your life, some come to clear your path

Deleting your savage paragraph to text back “ok” is a different kind of self control

Diana

01/07/2021 06:37

Hi Renae,

This quote was recently posted by Karen on Facebook, also with this post. (I have permission to share 🙂)

From Karen: "There's a famous quote, 'You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.'

In stroke recovery, if you're fortunate, you can do some things much of the time, and many things some of the time, but very few stroke survivors can do all of the things all of the time.'

Six months into my stroke recovery I got to the stage where if I did absolutely nothing else at all for myself or my young children, I could just struggle through working 2 hours per day, two days per week. To do this I needed to have support from a nanny to look after my preschool aged children every day, so I had the capacity for these 4 hours work each week.

Self-directed goal setting means we support stroke survivors achieve the things that are the highest priority for them each step of their journey.

As people living with stroke, we don't have anything to prove to anybody else. The only thing we need to do is be true to ourselves and know that we are doing our best with the hand we've been dealt.

And if there's a stroke survivor in your life, allow them to set their own goals if they can and believe that they are doing their very best.

The wisdom I learnt along the way is not to try to do all of the things all of the time and to be kind to myself and let go of my self talk and the expectations of others." 👌👍

Michael R

16/07/2021 01:39

Hi Renae, I find that humour (at my expense, given my short-term memory loss) helps. Firstly, it makes me laugh and also others. A couple of examples:

1. one of my favourite characters (comedy from former YU) is accused of forgetting and his response is as follows: 'I recall exactly that I couldn't remember'. I try to use this when my wife tells me that she has already told me something and I claim that I've forgotten.

2. recently, I came across a clip where a man is coming home from a dentist and had an injection to numb the pain (of course it lasts and makes talking difficult). He comes home and he has this 'smart' home, where everything is automatic and triggered by voice recognition. Given he is difficult to understand, it all goes 'pear shaped'. Can't find it now, but hope you can find it on youtube.

Michael R

07/08/2021 03:44

I recently rediscovered a show I watched while in Rehab (I couldn't swallow back then, was fed via a tube). It is called 'No Reservations' with the late Anthony Bourdain. He travels the world and shows people's lives and their food!

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