Plateau: a state of little or no change after a period of progress.
Did you hear the word 'plateau' used to describe your progress in rehab?
Some may see a slowdown in progression, but that doesn’t mean progression has stopped.
May people continue to progress for years. How do you feel about the word plateau?
I don't mind the term plateau, at least it means you're not getting worse! That in itself is encouraging
Hello Diana, thanks for asking a good question to get us thinking. I went back through my enableme feed and see that I asked the same thing in 2016. I still feel the same which I'll get to in a minute.
I've had a bunch of good, and not so easy to deal with, things going in my life lately and I've realised that, ignoring stroke, my mental health needs some panel beating to knock back into shape. I think good mental health is, for me at least, the key to dealing with the crap of having a stroke. My mental health isn't even on a plateau, I have hills to climb, and I need to do stuff to get there. Stuff takes work. Work takes effort.
Soooo, I'm doing some work. I have recognised that I haven't been acknowledging the good in me or around me or because of me. I have also realised that some important pieces of me have fallen away because life gets in the way, you raise a child, your mates are busy, you turn 50, you live through a pandemic, stroke doesn't help. I've realised at 50 I REALLY miss serious bushwalking and I want to do a lot more. Forget stroke, forget disability, forget ifs buts maybes. I've recently joined a bushwalking club, which is something I said I would NEVER do, to make myself have an obligation and to make myself do. This is rehabilitation. This is getting off the plateau.
I do not think plateau is a dirty word. As a bushwalker past, present, future, I would rather be on flat ground. A plateau is gentle on you. You can assess/reasses, look/think about where you are/where you've been/and where you want to go. I've been on a plateau for a bit too long and it's time to go to higher ground of mind/body/mental health. That's my choice. That's what I want. To me plateau means choice rather than something someone else gives me.
I plateaued in my stroke recovery a very long time ago and that's ok. It's the things I won't accept, physically or mentally, that I have control over. I can choose to stay on the plateau or make an effort. Having got the bushwalking bug back I've been looking at a lot of maps lately. I've plateaued. I've done the thinking and I know what my future looks like, it involves hills and now it's time to panel beat. I'm cool with plateaus but the view from the top of a hill is pretty good too.
Thanks for asking and getting me to say what I think.