I became a moderator about a year ago and one of the young members wrote to me that she could play the piano after her burst. She had never taken piano lessons and she sent me links of youtube videos of her playing the piano. Well, as I was recovering, I thought that maybe I could sing or draw so I experimented with both but I still did not possess those talents. However, I do have a passion for writing and others have said that I always enjoyed writing. I did like to write but I used to struggle to write each sentence and still was unhappy with the results but now the words just flow and probably too easily … lol. So, I am curious to know if any of you discovered a new talent as you have recovered from your injury?
WOW...this is a very special post. Wish I could say I know have a new talent. Fantastic!
Great question, Susan - I'm interested to hear the answers bc I was hoping that there might be some cool "side effects" from this AVM thing. At one point as an inpatient I thought, maybe this is God's way of making me more compassionate.
Yeah, that didn't pan out. I was actually meaner for a while - thinking like, Hey, if I can sit in this wheelchair, y'all can behave *better* - so Chop Chop.
Nor has any greater musical talent surfaced. Boooo. I am consumed with envy over the piano playing post AVM thing. That is soooo cool.
But I will say that the skills I was developing and was trained for at school etc. pre-AVM come in real handy now and now I have something to talk/write about and a reason to try harder and be more organized mentally (this goes hand in hand w exercise and physical conditioning). I'm using my pre-existing abilities more now, and even though it's hard work to regain things, I have to acknowledge that those abilities have stretched beyond what I thought my old capacity was.
bye :)atnt
Hi Ann, You always make me laugh .... Chop Chop ... lol. Yes, I was envious of the piano talent too. You certainly have your writing talent. Thanks for the reply and I will "talk" with you soon.
Thanks, Louisa, and I wish I could sing my gratitude to you ... lol.
I have developed an incredible talent for bumping into things on my left side. I also can now occasionally fall down the stairs. I can watch the same movie several times and have it be seem the first time. I can look at your like you're crazy because "no we did not have that conversation". I can look like I'm drunk occasionally while walking. I can walk really long distances to compensate for my inability to drive. I can sometimes bite my tongue to counteract the lack of "filter" in my brain. Gosh, the list goes on and on! WHo knew I was so talented?! :)
Thanks for the reply, Trish, and I think that I have more talents than I recognized!
That's awesome about the young girl that now plays the piano after her rupture. That's quite inspiring. I bet being a moderator is great because of all of the members that you get to meet and that you get to know.
Susan, I hope that you keep writing, please don't quit. I'm sure that you'll come up with something that you love. Every writing project begins as a first draft, right? :-)
After my AVM rupture, I had Writer's Block for over five years. I tried writing after my rupture. The emotions were there, but I just could not express it in words. I did not get back into writing until last year. I've written many poems since then, but there are only a few of them that I'm actually happy with. Please keep going.
I've always enjoyed the arts, but before my AVM rupture, all that I had done was draw and paint. A few years after my rupture, I decided to go a craft store, buy a bunch of materials (faux flowers, leaves, and bare wreaths), and make wreaths. I had never taken a class, so I thought that I'd try to figure it out on my own. You can see what I had created through My Artwork Album. :-)
I also began making bracelets (something I had never done, never taken a class for). It's something that I do to relax, especially after a long day of work. :-)
Trishie, I didn't even think about these types of talent...so I asked Adria and she said, "well when you have a seizure, I don't have to listen to you talk for a while AND since you cannot spell, I don't know what you want at the grocery store, so I don't buy it and saves us quite a bit of money.
As for the lack filter...I believe it is a talent that I never had before and I love it. I no longer have to go home and wish I had said what I really felt. Other people, without brain damage, do it all the time...now it's my turn!
And my list could go on and on and on as well, but I'll stop here....
Interestingly enough, I have encountered this as well, but perhaps to a lesser extent. I have played guitar for several years prior to my surgery and was an "OK" player. After my surgery I lost half of my eyesight, my sense of taste was off, I was dealing with aphasia, and while I had been singing my whole life, I found that my singing was completely off. Some might call it "tone deaf." Anyway, I was quite concerned about what would happen the first time I picked up the guitar and ended up waiting well over a month before trying to play. After a few stumbles at the beginning, within a short part of time I doscovered that not only was I doing every bit as well as prior to my surgery, but was actually doing better. I ran this by the psychiartist that I was seeing as part of my post-operative recovery. He said it made perfect sense to him because I had suffered from serious trauma to my brain, other parts of my brain were compensating in other ways. Shortly afterward, I took some piano lessons from a friend of the family who suggested that since my vision loss was causing some difficulty with my ability to read, working on reading music and the had-eye coordination could be very helpful. Turns out she was right.
As a sample, here is a song that I recorded in my apartment a matter of months after surgery. (Yes, most of my singing ability eventually came back.)
Thanks for the reply, Jake, and I listened to your song; it was awesome! Should I call you Eric Clapton ... lol? Feel free to send me a friend request if you have more links to share. Jake, I enjoy many music genres and thanks to one of my brothers, I have quite a diverse cd collection (yes, I'm of that generation that still purchases cd's.) Oh, you may appreciate this but about 1 year after my brain injury, I was in the hospital for a procedure and told my neurologist that I found I preferred country music which I did at that time. He told me that I was welcome and had the staff switch the operating room radio station to a country one per the patient's request ... lol. Jake, my husband is a huge fan of country music so I was familiar with it but not a fan.
Thanks for the reply, Leslye, and I am a fan of your literary talent so I will abide by your orders and keep writing ... lol. I will check out your artwork album and yay for you! Oh, I have written some free verse poems after a brother sent me a book by one of his favorite poets so I have admiration for your poetry talent.
I like your moderator comment and I have found that when I feel the "why me's" I have plenty of reality checks from this website to boost me.
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my posting. You are always an inspiration.
I played bass guitar, by ear. After my bleed, my ability to learn songs increased dramatically. I went from playing bass to playing guitar. I'm pretty happy with it.
That's a cool benefit, tdz103m, thanks for the reply.
You may find this article interesting...
http://www.guitarworld.com/new-study-shows-how-guitar-players-brains-are-different-everybody-elses
Thanks, Jake, and yes, it's fascinating and I plan to point out this link to others.
Hi Ninibeth, I have found you warm and welcoming from the beginning so we can call that a talent or more importantly, just being a wonderful person and you are one!
I am just now responding to this but I have to say I love your sense of humor Trish. I too now have the talent of bumping into things, falling occasionally, and looking like I'm drunk when walking...lol. We are just awesome! lol. Seriously though, take care of yourself soccer mom, we love you!
I listened to the song but you now have an echo (at least I heard one). Is this from the AVM? If so very cool. ;) Seriously, you are extremely talented, and I'd like to sign up for more song links like Susan. Hey forget CDs, I even have a collection of record albums, remember those?
By the way Susan, FASCINATING topic. We certainly need to explore this.