S10E32: VISUALIZATION IS NOT MAGIC....ITS TAKING ACTION.

0:00 Welcome to Stroke Surviving the Odds of the podcast, and I am Karina, your host and creator behind it. The mission of the show is to help you reclaim your life, reclaim your identity, and move forward past the events of the stroke. For myself, I suffered a brain stem dissection. I was 25 years old and that was 28 years ago. Yes, and I'm still part of you, living my very best life. And you are part of it.

0:32 I suffered A brainstem, this action that also led me to coma Interlochen syndrome. I vowed that I was going to do something for my community of stroke survivors. And I think that I am. The show is full of hacks, how to's, how I got to survive this world as a survivor. The platform here is much more than a place where we talk about stroke surviving, but it's a place, it's a space actually where we heal or if we emotionally heal from the effects of the stroke. So I want to welcome you and before I continue, I want to do a little bit of clean house.

1:18 Make sure that you like, follow and subscribe on any audio podcast that you're listening to and that you hit the bell here on YouTube. That way you don't miss any of the episodes that are going to be published. Sounds good. I have a question for you. Do you know what clarity is to you? What is clarity? What does it mean?

1:48 Well, if if you think about it and I looked at the definition that helped, it is the ability to see yourself in a situation and figure out and figure out the outcome of it and feel. If you know anything about me, you know I'm all about feeling. So it's about being honest with yourself. When you with your feelings, whether you're good or bad, there is no good or bad, but whether you feel good about it or you feel icky about it, you are being honest and true to yourself. That's what's important.

2:29 And after stroke, we feel a lot of mental, mental fog. We feel emotionally overwhelmed. We also feel disconnected from the outside world. So today's episode is all about reclaiming clarity and direction after stroke. Sounds good. Clarity helps to reconnect. Reconnect with the world, but also reconnect with ourselves.

2:56 Who we were. Free stroke is not who we are now. No matter how much you try, you cannot be who you were. It is impossible because you have evolved. You, you seem like, no, it seems rather like you are not evolving. You actually went back in time. You became a child and an infant again. Well, those are normal feelings from the stroke. Absolutely.

3:30 I always say that we regress when we have a stroke. Parts of our brain is incapable, incapable of being the adult brain it is. So it has no choice to go back. And I know it can be very frustrating and very frightening, but also think of it as a Mulligan in golf. It's a do over. You get to do your your life over. I remember the first time I figured that out and I felt guilty about thinking, God, what's happening to me, you know?

4:24 But it's when I was sitting on my back deck and I was looking at my then 16 month old daughter running around the yard after a ball. And I remember starting not just tearing up, but really sobbing myself and crying, saying out loud, holy shit. I just had a second chance to see her. That was powerful.

4:54 And I hope that me telling you this little story right now, this little anecdote, well is empowering to you. By the way, you figured out I'm at my desk. It's the very first time I am videotaping. I am filming. I am going to be posting on YouTube this podcast production. Usually I only do audio, but today I really wanted to do a video now clarity, haha.

5:23 I've had a lot of it in the last few years in regards to how I want to help my community, how I want to serve, how I want to be true to myself. Remember what I said at the beginning, right? Clarity is being true and honest with yourself. And I pride myself with being authentic. So I've had a lot of clarity and a lot of direction clarity. I want to focus on 4 words today. If you look at the difference to not synonyms, that means the same thing as clarity.

6:04 We're going to focus on for today, vision it or envision or visionary focus. Keep your eye on the ball and certainty. Hmm, you're going to say Karina, you cannot be certain. Ha, I'm going to show you how you can be and direction, having a sense of direction. These four things are going to help you find clarity.

6:34 Does that make sense now? It's very, like I said, it's very scary. It's very uncertain, right? One of the most common reactions questions that people, stroke survivors everywhere are going to say is, well, what if I have another stroke? I don't know if I'm going to have another stroke. We don't know these things.

7:03 What I would like for you just to focus on you not having another stroke. How? Envision your life not having another stroke and envision how your life will be. And again, keep that focus. You know, when we're holding a camera, we have to use the focus lens to make sure things are in and out right and in in good zoom. Your life has to be like that.

7:44 And I, I am always saying you don't have to do anything when it comes to other people. Other people might say you have to be this way, You have to be that way. No, you don't have to be fucking anyway. You have to be you. And the you right now is trying freaking hard not to be afraid of having another stroke and is envisioning and feeling and embodying that you are not.

8:16 And you can see yourself healthy. You can see yourself walking your daughter bot down the aisle. You can see you're you're holding your grandbaby. That is envisionment. You can see yourself running a whole department at the office where you used to work. If that is what you want to envision, if that is what you want, you are going to get it.

8:40 Nothing in life is certain. We can leave the house right now. I can leave the house and I can get hit by a car. God forbid. I don't want that to happen, but you know what I mean? Nothing is certain, but what is certain is, is if you don't do anything, nothing's going to happen. You see, we are paralyzed. Not only physically.

9:05 My left side is affected. Guys, great, I have mobility yes, but I am still, I still have paralysis. But one thing is certain. If I don't do anything in my life, if I don't propel my podcast, if I don't move my ass and and get some support groups going on in person here in Montreal. If I don't communicate with people, if I don't send emails to people saying my plan, nothing is going to happen, right?

9:41 I have a question for you. What area of your life do you have the most clarity? Are you the most secure? That is going really well. That's what you want. Not because you had a stroke means that everything has to go bad. It's not true guys. It is so bullshit, OK? Having a stroke is unfortunately probably a chapter in the book of your life.

10:18 I have many other episodes and other other episodes and other shows. I had 7 lives in my life right now, 7 parts, 7 chapters to my life. Not going to get into it, but we all have more than one chapter in our lives and the stroke is only one. How do you want that chapter to end? That's up to you. So what I'm doing with the podcast is focusing on, yes, I'm acknowledging the situation, but I'm also focusing on what can happen after, what good can happen after. So I'll ask you again, what part of your life, stroke or not, I would rather it be not stroke related. I don't want you to tell me I managed to hold the fork on my toothbrush today.

11:12 I want you to tell me something good in your life. That is what you're going to hold on to. And I don't want to hear. I have a grandchild. Wonderful. But your grandchild has a parent that lives with that child. Day in, day out, you visit that child. You, Jane, you Joe Blue. What positive has happened in your life?

11:40 Something happened. OK, if you won 10 bucks in a lottery ticket, who knows? Maybe the Internet finally came back. Something good. OK, I want you to realize that when you have a lack of clarity or lack of vision or lack of direction, it is not failure, Comprende. It is not failure. Sometimes we have to go through the confusion to rebuild.

12:18 I love that thing. I, I mean, I love that thing. I, I read it today in a book and I incorporate it today because I thought it was very important. And having a lack could be a lack of mobility, could be a lack of speech. Those are lacks. It doesn't mean that you're worthless. It doesn't mean you're nothing.

12:44 It just means you have a lack and you are in the process of rebuilding. Sometimes we need to know what's going good in order to know what's going bad. I often say, how do you know? Think of your emotions as a roller coaster. Now the roller coaster has to get the momentum of going up in order to go down.

13:10 So now I just ask you what part of your life is fantastic is going good? So we are, but now we're going to go down and I'm going to ask you what part of your life it's still a little foggy, confused, scared, unsure, think that part that went down and get that momentum to go up again. Does that make sense? I always say that I used my past, my childhood, my traumas, I used all of that to fuel my future. My future is not in 20 years.

13:54 My future is right now. When I started my journey, it's about four years ago that I really, really started embodying what I want. And what I want is here is to help my people. Why? Because I know what you're feeling. I know what you're thinking. Why? Because I've been there and I'm still there sometimes.

14:20 So I get you. I totally get you. So it don't think I'm going to end, but don't think that because things are not clear as crystal right now that they're always going to be like that because it's not true. They are going to become but you have to take action. Things don't happen like magic. We have to make them happen.

14:47 You have to make them happen. So thank you. This is what I have for you guys today. Make sure that when you are listening to Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts and iTunes, you can leave a review. You share with Sugar Bear, you share the podcast with everybody and anybody. Your job is not to decide who needs to hear this. Your job is to simply share.

15:16 I learned that in sales, by the way, So I don't want you to think that I'm being a BITCHI am not. This is try tested and true from my bosses at the at the Bay here in Canada. OK, so I know that and if you are watching, which you probably are on YouTube, I want you to ring that bell. That way you are not going to miss any of my future videos. Make sure also to share the podcast and I would love to hear from you guys.

15:48 Leave me a comment on YouTube. Tell me if you like what you don't like. If you're a stroke survivor, you're a caregiver. You like my vibe, You don't like my vibe. What? You're loud? Everybody's entitled to their opinion, but just know that my opinion is that I love you. Have a good day guys.