Website back in the air

It has been silence on my website, but it is back in the air. New website name, different information, but also a bit of the same. No idea of someone is going to read it, but it will also, or perhaps mostly, for me. In the coming weeks more blogs will follow, all with different topics, but this one will be a short summary of the last year as a start of the 'new' blog.

So, by the end of 2018 I quite cycling, well the races, not the cycling itself. Injuries, to many crashes and a sort of heavy sport burn out made me take this decision. In the winter of 2018/2019 I had not much energy to do anything, let aside doing sport, but in the spring of 2019 I slowly got back some energy. Working became easier, started again with a bit of cycling and running. Nothing special, no goals, but just being outside and enjoy that. By the end of the school year, in June 2019, I felt like I got back most of my energy and it felt that the summer holidays would give me back that last part and that I would start the new school year like how I like to teach and develop new things in school. Unfortunately, things went differently. In preparation of a downhill weekend in Winterberg, we did some training on a MTB rockgarden in The Netherlands. Not taking any risks, just slowly learning new skills and the confidence of that I could to it. With did the same downhill six or more times and I felt really good at the bike. At this moment, I still don't know what happened exactly. For sure I did not crash due to a mistake, but I lost my conscience during the last decent and that made me crash in the end. I have a gap of about five hours and also the complete first week is a blur.

But it happened in the first week of the summer holiday, so five weeks to recover before the new school year started. Unfortunately, it was not enough to recover completely, but we still had the confidence that I just needed a bit more time. I started with two classes, 5 teaching hours a week, but even that was too much. By the end of November I had to take more time off. What I thought would be just a couple of weeks off till Christmas, turned to no teaching at all anymore. In July 2020 the company doctor, together with the so call labour expert (arbeidsdeskundige), decided teaching would no longer be suitable for me. Working in general would be a big challenge at all. Not something you would like to hear at the age of 35.

So my main constrictions? Daily headache, bad short-term memory, hypersensitive with sounds, driving a car or even be in the car is a challenge, talking to people cost a lot of energy, not really able to watch TV or work with a computer and so on.

What I still can do? Doing sports, which is also advised by my doctor. I still talk to people and do some social activities, but for just an hour and taking time off after. Being outside a lot; walking in the forest or sit on my balcony. Knitting, making jigsaws, cooking and reading books.

So, with all my restrictions, the question is: "Can you still enjoy life?" Luckily, yes, I can still enjoy life. With a positive mind, believe in the things you CAN do and with all the love from Esther, life is still good. How difficult it sometimes can be, do not think about the things you cannot do anymore, but think in possibilities. A quick example: being in the car is difficult for me, but we did want to go on holiday. Since I am physically fit, I decided to go the 215km by bike instead of by car. I arrived fresh and happy and we had a lovely holiday.

So in the coming blogs I will describe a bit more about my life with acquired brain injury and what is going on at the moment, because also good things are happening with people giving me a change to discover what I can do with work, a special cycling project and developing my new swimming skills. And what about celebrating our 5 year marriage :-).

If you have questions or a request for a blog, please let me know!