I once had a client who’ve had a stroke at a very young age and when the client woke up at the hospital he/she wasn’t even able to sit unsupported and slept for 20 hours a day due to brain fatigue. The client was told that walking and driving a car would never be possible again. How lucky the client didn’t take that too seriously, because when we met he/she was driving independently and walked only using a walking stick. Still a few years later some progress has been made thanks to rehab and the client is very determined to continue improving. I truly admire the positive attitude.
Stroke patients are often living proof of how powerful brain plasticity (the brain’s ability to change) is. Depending on what area of the brain and to what extent the stroke has caused damage, different functions will be affected in the person. For example it’s common to have balance impairments and suffer from dizziness if cerebellum is affected and generally speaking damage in the left hemisphere of the brain will cause difficulties considering language. The fascinating thing is that even though a certain area of the brain is damaged by a stroke, new neural pathway can be created. Imagine the brain as a forest with lots of well travelled paths (neural pathways) that lead to different parts of the forest (functions). An earthquake (the stroke) hits and creates a chaos all over the forest and the paths that used to be so apparent are now completely destroyed and impossible to find. Eventually you start clearing up the mess and you manage to find some of the old paths, but some aren’t possible to save. Some of the paths that got lost in the earthquake might have led to somewhere significant, so you decide to reroute and start creating an alternative path in order to get there. It might take a while, but with time and patience you will be able to get there again. That’s exactly what our brain does as well. If neural pathways are destroyed the brain will try with all its power to create new ones to regain its functions. Sometimes when it comes to stroke sadly some “paths” are left destroyed, but it’s amazing how many that actually can be rebuilt.
Lately it’s been done a lot of research about brain plasticity and according to this research it isn’t only the “strokebrain” who’s this changeable. All brains have capacity for plasticity no matter the age (of course easier to affect a younger brain) and that I find pretty fantastic! This means it’s never too late to change, develop new skills and knowledge and even change your behavior. It’s in your head really. Your mindset and attitude to trying new things in different ways. I’m talking about the difference between having a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. A fixed mindset means that you feel like there’s nothing you can do to change how good or bad you’re at doing something. You do anything to avoid failure and therefore don’t take on any difficult challenges that could potentially lead to personal growth. You constantly find yourself inside your comfort zone which gives you a false feeling of control. A growth mindset means that you feel like you can develop yourself and your abilities if you put some effort into it. You’re less afraid of failure because you see them as an opportunity to learn and you’re aware that setbacks don’t define you as a person.
I didn’t know it back then, but I used to be stuck in a fixed mindset. Convinced I wasn’t good enough, believed that I never could be. Afraid of failure, so I avoided trying. Procrastinated. Thought that “when I’m ready I will”. Truth is you’ll never feel ready to do things that scare you, but you need to do it anyway. Get out of your comfort zone, that’s where life begins. Dare to take that baby step in the right direction. Dare to challenge yourself even though it scares you. Dare to risk failing and learn from it in order to become better. Dare to risk getting hurt, because maybe one day something wonderful will come out of it. Thanks to mental coaching I subconsciously changed my mindset from fixed to a growth mindset. Sometimes I’m still afraid of failing, but I won’t let fear stop me and I do it anyway. What a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person, expand my comfort zone and become a little bit braver every time. Because bravery is not the absence of fear, it’s being scared and doing it anyway.
Ways to improve your brain plasticity:
Learn a new language, how to play a new instrument or other hobby
Travel and explore new places
Create something or read books
Getting enough sleep
Exercise (read Anders Hansen’s book “The real Happy Pill” if you want to know more about how)
[The photo is from Mount Rainier National Park i WA, USA, 2016]