Hi there (oh my gosh, that sounds like my Midwestern just came out!). As I promised earlier, the article I wrote about what Saebo thought folks did in rehab regarding 13 common mistakes during post-stroke recovery caused the juices to flow and have created a lot of opportunities for me to share ideas with all of you. I mean, it is ridiculous to hoard these wonderful experiences and thoughts and ideas to myself. So I took a gander at the list and I decided to write about “Motivation” and what it means to me.
I have always been a self-motivated individual. From an early age, the grades I received as a student served as a reminder that studying kept me in the right direction. My acceleration from grade-level to grade-level and into honors classes along the way, and my high “rank” of graduation-level from both my junior high and high school classes and from my university kept me motivated throughout my school years. My professional choice of accounting and becoming a CPA, starting with Price Waterhouse and then moving right along into various industries and becoming CFO and ultimately COO, kept me motivated throughout my nearly 40 years of professional life! And I even remember odd bits and pieces of motivation while I was growing up that also paved the way for me. Let me share this one with you! I like to call it “The Christmas Box” story. I even shared it with my first Toastmasters’ Group I joined back in the mid-1980’s! They loved it! For Christmas of my 4th grade year my Mom wrapped our presents and put them in our basement before putting up the tree. One of my gifts was wrapped in a plain brown store box with red tissue paper that I could see through. I could see a serial number on the box and grabbed the Sears' and Penneys' Christmas books to check the toy sections for which gift it could be. I couldn’t find the serial number to match. I gave up. But I was still motivated by that serial number! Then I remembered something. I had asked for a sleeping bag that Christmas! I pulled the Sears Christmas book back out and matched the serial number on the box with the number of one of the sleeping bags and they matched!! That is how I found out I was getting a sleeping bag for Christmas! I guess I was always motivated and inquisitive! Now since I have had this subdural hematoma and have been recovering, I have become wildly aware that my “self” motivation is not enough. I need the motivation from others. So when I hear that motivation from others, I let them know it is great for me to hear and I encourage them to tell me such words of encouragement and motivation whenever they have it, see it, feel it. When I returned to my office (although it was a brief return), our receptionist said to me one day that she was sorry she did not get up to hold the door for me as I was going to the other building across the courtyard. I said she had no reason to apologize, that I was able to open the door myself and get through it just fine. She agreed with me and commented on how she noticed how well my walking had improved that week! I told her not to be afraid to mention those things to me - I needed to hear them because I needed to hear when other people noticed my improvements! Just a few days later I was walking through the office hallway with no one assisting me and someone else commented on how well I was improving with my speed and gait. I told her, as well, please do tell me! And I shared with her that I loved going home in the evenings to Tom and telling him that “”so&so” told me that he/she noticed improvement in my “such&such”!! I went to a meeting of one of our group of managers (who deals with post-stroke victims quite often) and one of those managers came up to me after the meeting and mentioned that my physical mobility was greater than most of what she has seen from similarly affected individuals. This was what I really needed to hear - it motivated me even more! So that motivation is SO VERY ENCOURAGING & HELPFUL & MEANINGFUL - not just to post-stroke victims, but to everyone for everything!! Be sure to encourage your family members, your friends, your co-workers, your peers, your subordinates, everyone you see doing better at something than they did before! Be sure to check out my Instagram at “poststrokepeg.” God Bless You, Peg "There are multiple sides to all of us. Who we are - and who we might be if we follow our dreams." -- Miley Cyrus
1 Comment
Stacie Moreno
10/23/2018 11:39:35 pm
Very insightful Peg! Love your stories and your pearls of wisdom through all of this. Miss you and hope to see you and Tom very soon!
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