In my book I talk about "super
survivors" defined as a survivor who is “…so unwilling to let go of their
career, their independence, or a personal passion that they are compelled to
recover. They intertwine recovery with what they love to do.” When
somebody can use their life's passion to drive recovery everything is made
easier.
- It's easier for
the therapist because they don't have to work so hard to motivate.
- It's easier for
the stroke survivor because they have a cherished task on which to focus.
- It's easier for
the survivor’s brain because when it comes to driving plastic changes
"the power is in the focus.” And we tend to focus on what we care
about.
There are
other things that motivate survivors towards recovery. Things like career (and
by extension money), fear (i.e. falling), friendship (many survivors talk about
friends who have "ditched" them after their stroke), the need for
independence etc. etc. All of these can be extraordinarily important, although
I would suggest that they may be somewhat less important than the goals of the
"super survivor" focused on a cherished task. But if the scale goes
from "I need to get better because of friends, money, fear etc."
to “I need to get better in order to get back to guitar playing (a cherished
task)" there is actually one step further. That step is called Kathy.
Kathy Spencer is the only survivor I know who has reached a “nirvana of
recovery”.
People who
get really good at stuff are not necessarily completely focused on outcomes.
Most folks who become expert at something are focused on process.
The goal in great musicians and athletes and students etc. is to learn. To
learn is to forcibly rewire the brain. Relearning of movement after stroke is learning,
called motor learning. I’ve
discussed this before; learning new movements and learning French, piano,
math or anything else is the same. They all happen through rewiring existing
neurons in the cortex of the brain.
Learning
ain’t easy. It necessarily takes work. But let me ask you this…Which student is
going to get a better grade…
Jack: “I’m
studying because I want a good grade.”
Jill: “I’m
studying because this stuff is really cool.”
Outcome
focused Vs. process focused.
Obviously
the lines can get blurred because as more ability you have the more that can be
done to achieve the outcome. But survivors spend much of their time in a
no-mans land where they are working, but are not yet able to use their limbs
functionally. And this is where the plot is often lost. If your only interest
is the outcome you’ll probably say “the outcome is so far away and I may not
get there.” If your interest is process the question is, “What can I do to get
just a little bit more?
It seems to
me like Kathy Spencer fell in love with the process. And it's tough to fall in
love with the process that, unlike practicing soccer and guitar, had no
guarantee for success, and where you’re not learning anything new, really. With
Kathy it seems to be a leap of faith, although as you'll see faith may have had
a bit to do with it. In the video below Kathy explains a little bit about the
process she went through to recover. What is interesting to me is, not so much
the particular exercises she did (these will be different for every survivor) but
the perspective she takes. 26 months of hard work during which there was no
guarantee.
26 months.
And yes,
she mentions my book but I pinky swear, I was going to blog on this within the
first 20 seconds of watching this great vid.
