making lemonade: rebuilding a business after traumatic brain injury part two
Welcome back to the blog!
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month, so I am sharing my experiences with brain injury and highlighting resources, writing about topics of interests, answering questions, and spotlighting professionals all month!
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the cause of disability for 5.3 million adults in the US. Despite knowing this statistic, I did not realize that two and a half years after my injury I would not yet have returned to my prior work activities.
If you’d like to learn more about the financial toll of TBI, causes, treatment, and more, please check out my linked blog post from September.
After a brain injury, life is different.
Today, I’m continuing the story of part two of my journey back to work after my brain injury.
You can read Part One HERE!
I think I was about eighteen months out from my injury when I accepted that I wouldn’t be returning to my old work load.
Before I accepted the inevitable, I had even applied (and interviewed) for jobs I was well qualified for but did not receive.
I had been using The Spoon Theory for nine months and seen progress with it (Google it if you’re unfamiliar). For reference, before my injury I had approximately 100-125 spoons a day. At my best post injury I have maybe 60 spoons a day.
I noticed my symptoms increased from movement, exertion, noise, motion, and other stressors inherent to my profession. I continued to work with my doctors and therapists to treat symptoms while trying to find solutions for employment.
what next?
I’d been self employed since 2013, and I’d been in the health and fitness industry since 2005. At first I didn’t think I had many options. Then I made myself compile a few lists.
What other skills did I have??
Were these skills marketable?
Could these skills better fit my health needs and new abilities?
These lists gave me a place to start.
May I be very real with you??
Thank you.
Making the lists were awful.
Under “skills” I had:
shopping
stressing out
stressing out over shopping too much
a few other things
Now how on earth it was all going to turn into a business, I couldn’t tell you. But I needed to see what I was working with.
While I was agonizing over these lists, my friend Tyler sent me the scariest email I’ve ever gotten.
Tyler is the community manager at lululemon, where I am an ambassador. He had gifted me a beautiful jacket and followed up to see how I liked it. Then he did the unthinkable . . . he asked me to post some photos on Instagram.
Of myself.
In the jacket.
He sent me instructions to sign up for an affiliate program to earn commission for sales of lululemon and a file on FDC disclosures.
I spent an afternoon alternating between agony and ecstasy.
Could I make a living doing my favorite thing (shopping, talking about lululemon, and sharing it with friends?)?
And would that mean I’d actually have to use social media?? I had 800 followers and had posted five times the prior year. I’d never been a social media person.
I also hated photos of myself. I had always hated photos of myself: I was always too something in them.
The idea of my next job being online (I couldn’t bring myself to think the word “influencer”) was very scary, but I decided to scope it out.
So I did what anyone with a professional doctorate would do: I researched.
I read any and every article I could find that detailed how to make money on the internet.
I asked questions, I made lists, I downloaded apps, I dove in with both feet.
Most importantly, I posted the photos.
Then I messaged Tyler and asked him to meet with me. I knew it was important to share my idea with people who would support me and keep me accountable to acting on it . . . and four weeks later, lemonLOVES was born.
When I launched lemonLOVES blog, I had no idea that fourteen months later I’d have a global community nearly 35K strong.
I didn’t know that I’d get to share so many amazing wellbeing brands with you, launch a mindfulness text message service to support you, or highlight such important topics (like resilience). I’m actually glad I didn’t know, because I probably would have put it off since it all sounds a little scary!
As I continue to build this online business, I try to learn as much as I can. I’ve made a lot of mistakes this past year. I’ve grown a lot this past year.
On Friday, I’m featuring Dr Molly Parker on the blog and we are sharing a Part Three to this post with tips for people going back to work after traumatic brain injury.
Want to practice mindfulness consistently? Text MINDFUL to +1-480-531-9810 to get a free daily mindfulness prompt via text message!
I made the Top 15 in my group to be the next Yoga Warrior!
I was selected based on my platform of wanting to make yoga + mindfulness accessible. I currently do that with my daily mindfulness text, this blog, and my Instagram and TikTok content. I have big dreams of doing more to help others, and I’d love your support! Here’s how you can help:
vote for me!
If I win, I’ll be featured in The Yoga Journal + win a $10,000 cash prize to support my work.
Would you be willing to vote for me?
If so, you can cast a FREE vote daily through the end of the month! Just click the button below.
You can also pay for additional votes, with 25% of the proceeds going to The Veterans Yoga Project (a 501c nonprofit).
You can vote every 24 hours, so set an alarm or reminder to optimize your voting potential!
Voting to get into the Top 10 in my group closes Thursday, 3/25 at 7pm PST!
