Right now I have a wall in which its sole purpose is relearning and reacquiring the skills necessary to deal with any and all forms of mail.
Yep an entire wall.
This activity, a normal everyday thing is complicated by my having regular difficulty coordinating movement between my left and right hand/side which is one of the reasons why swimming as a rehab modality didn’t work. There’s a story - and definitely for another time.
But for anyone who themselves or knows someone with challenges per tasks of daily living applicable to either TBIs, strokes and diminished capacity here’s something that has worked and is working for me.
If you’re like me you can and do become confused during routine tasks and something ‘simple’ can take hours or days. ..but back to mail- a task of daily living and strategy and system for when and if you can’t do it. At least not anything like or even remotely resembling how you used to. My hope is, like all things: I can relearn it.
You’ll need a wall- lots of negative space. That’s me, other people may not have the visual components in a state of difficulty but I need an entire wall. Hopefully someday I’ll have relearned mail well enough that I won’t need a wall.
I recommend construction paper because I believe in neuroplasticity and if the person had a childhood that included construction paper that is then best material because there’s tactile memory. One can use a variety of substances to write on the construction paper.
I tried crayon but oil pastel mimics the look of chalk on a black board better so that was my choice because again my brain has memories of blackboards. I don’t recommend just printing the categories for the TBI because part of relearning this stuff is simply the physical execution, over and over and over again and I believe setting the conditions for re-accessing as much old wiring as possible is critical to rebuilding a neural network.
Four primary categories with four subcategories lined up beneath the prime categories.
I chose black paper (for the primary) and brown (for the subcategory (which is actually an action field)). Brown and black paper are both neutrals- obviously white would just be confusing. Should one ask “why would white be confusing? Because most the envelopes are in white color range, add that together with different fonts, ink colors, logos and various differing rules of formatting and you have already confusing. Adding one more level of white just makes it more so. At least for this TBI. So no white.
As for the black and brown, other colors could be used but I found with various cultural associations pertaining to colors (red, green, orange alert, yellow light, etc.) anything other than neutral palette led to quick and greater confusion so I suggest the neutral palette.
So in the upper tier is black construction paper with white lettering reading:
-expected monthly
-expected non-monthly
-unexpected
-wild cards
Other black areas develop/d and are: - No action required: file
- Follow up action required due to sender error
The second tier is in brown construction paper located under each appropriate black header
- follow up action for expected monthly
- follow up action for expected non-monthly
- follow up action for unexpected
- follow up action for sender errors
I don’t have a brown card for follow up action on wild cards because just this stuff is so very, very difficult and I must relearn it.
And if you must relearn it or know someone who is facing similar “challenges” I’ve tried a lot of systems and so far this is the only one that has worked or at least seems to be working. For me its as if every piece of mail is written on clear paper and they all overlap and I can’t see any of it. That’s an analogy and not literally what I see but mail becomes, quickly an overlap of related topics that; become tangled together like a ball of yarn and then I am almost immediately confused.
However in this system if I/one gets overwhelmed or confused there are no materials to put away. That was the failure point of other systems- by the time I’d get the materials assembled I’d be so confused that the venture - well that would be as far as I could get. Tack the materials up on a wall it is simply there waiting for when you can. And to the non ”challenged” that doesn’t mean “when one feels like it” but when one actually can.
When the mail comes in tack it up and place it sequentially in the appropriate black column. Later move that mail item down and tack it up under the follow up action brown sub header… when you’re at that stage. If there’s anything you need to remember about this action set or the various action sets required to execute the steps for completing this particular task, or if its helpful, write down the steps or what materials you will need (checkbook, etc) use post its or hand write notes on the envelope because too you may have to go to one more destinations to fully execute what is required in that envelope and you may need to preplan those supplies.
Okay so that’s a strategy for mail just the opening and execution and having a means for knowing where you are in those many, many action sets of a huge array of categories, some of which overlap, and make up a very minute portion of the tasks of daily living.
I can write you any essay - have progressed with technical instructions and I can even write you a story but if you’re a TBI like me once something is out of your visual range its essentially completely forgotten.
I got rid of an Anderson bed with drawers because after six plus years of not being able to remember what was in the drawers I gave up… unfortunately it did not occur to me to simply label the drawers like in “Away From Her”. Had I, I’d still have drawers instead of see through plastic containers.
That is one reason why this whole no paper thing doesn’t work for me, a screen disappears and I don’t remember what the screen was, I get lost in and on computers and I doubt I’m rare in the world of TBIs that way. Many of us simply will not be able to make the digital conversion. Hertz rotations can not only make me dizzy but can actually physically throw me.
A neighborhood kid who went to college and grew up came back and worked at the building in front of mine: Best Buy for a brief time. He and I did an experiment a few years back. He and I talked about the visual problems I had and still have and one night he took me around the store to sample some screens, computers and televisions .
Hertz rotations we found were critical (the higher the hertz the dizzier I am and may just become nauseous and feel like hurling within a few seconds). Or I may start falling to the ground.
We also found materials seem to influence whatever became of my eye and brain system. There was some ‘new’ type of more environmentally correct screen made from sand and between that, and possibly the hertz rotation, he literally had to catch me because my eyes sat on that screen for maybe a second or two and I got so dizzy he had to physically catch me because of something that will probably be common place in living rooms and public spaces oh so soon. For me the entire ground felt like it suddenly shifted upward…though I guess that may have been due to me falling downward?
I sampled Kindles, or the other one, and I will not anytime soon be able to read on one. The old, original is easier on my eye brain connection and the new one is just beyond that system’s capabilities.
When I write I don’t look at the screen except to check and edit because I can’t, the more I see that screen the less time I can spend doing it and I am always dizzy when I come off a computer. For me they might as well be amusement park rides.
People ever want to show pictures on their phones and again I presume its pixel refreshment and hertz rotations- for me it is small doses of kryptonite. I see people walk and do things on their phones at the same time- I doubt I will ever be able to do that .
But back to mail.
White plain binders and a hole puncher
After your mail is opened and all actions are executed the papers can be filed. I’ve found white binders in every sender category to be extremely helpful. Also helpful: using the actual logo of the mailer instead of writing by hand or printing it: makes it easier to match and not be done under by something as small and insignificant as just translating those two images and registering they really, really are the same thing and match. For some reason my brain glitches on that, and I again I can be in slip quick slide into confusion.
All supplies should be placed in close proximity to the mail wall and in my experience in the same flat visual field.
So ends a possible suggestion for a means, way and manner for TBI’s and other challenged individuals to learn or re-learn how to do: mail.
I needed to relearn how to write for many reasons. One being I desperate because a good deal of the time I can not rely on my verbal communication skills. In a goal or task oriented situation I am in serious trouble. Wandering conversations that I can do but once I encounter anything below board or challenging I have extreme difficulty getting the job done.
So if you’re a TBI or a stroke patient or know someone who is and they’re having difficulty managing their affairs/ mail give the system a try. If nothing else they’ll be less frustrated. And if you’re not a TBI or a stroke victim but know someone who is this is what life is like with one, its hard and from one: we know that.
Within the last two years it took me over six months to remember/learn what was behind four doors in a very small corridor. The brown doors =: the bathroom, the linen closet, the bedroom and the coat closet.
It took me six weeks in the homeless shelter to remember that the locker room was locked until six from about 7 am to six pm- day after day and week after week I’d not have my purse or the coat or something I needed or whatever because I couldn’t get that one daily repeating thing to solidify as memory. Until it’s a story I don’t remember and if I or circumstances don’t convert it into a narrative...think about it: six months to remember what’s behind four doors, day after day. Week after week. Month after month.
That’s the reality of life with and as a TBI, this one at least.
Yep an entire wall.
This activity, a normal everyday thing is complicated by my having regular difficulty coordinating movement between my left and right hand/side which is one of the reasons why swimming as a rehab modality didn’t work. There’s a story - and definitely for another time.
But for anyone who themselves or knows someone with challenges per tasks of daily living applicable to either TBIs, strokes and diminished capacity here’s something that has worked and is working for me.
If you’re like me you can and do become confused during routine tasks and something ‘simple’ can take hours or days. ..but back to mail- a task of daily living and strategy and system for when and if you can’t do it. At least not anything like or even remotely resembling how you used to. My hope is, like all things: I can relearn it.
You’ll need a wall- lots of negative space. That’s me, other people may not have the visual components in a state of difficulty but I need an entire wall. Hopefully someday I’ll have relearned mail well enough that I won’t need a wall.
I recommend construction paper because I believe in neuroplasticity and if the person had a childhood that included construction paper that is then best material because there’s tactile memory. One can use a variety of substances to write on the construction paper.
I tried crayon but oil pastel mimics the look of chalk on a black board better so that was my choice because again my brain has memories of blackboards. I don’t recommend just printing the categories for the TBI because part of relearning this stuff is simply the physical execution, over and over and over again and I believe setting the conditions for re-accessing as much old wiring as possible is critical to rebuilding a neural network.
Four primary categories with four subcategories lined up beneath the prime categories.
I chose black paper (for the primary) and brown (for the subcategory (which is actually an action field)). Brown and black paper are both neutrals- obviously white would just be confusing. Should one ask “why would white be confusing? Because most the envelopes are in white color range, add that together with different fonts, ink colors, logos and various differing rules of formatting and you have already confusing. Adding one more level of white just makes it more so. At least for this TBI. So no white.
As for the black and brown, other colors could be used but I found with various cultural associations pertaining to colors (red, green, orange alert, yellow light, etc.) anything other than neutral palette led to quick and greater confusion so I suggest the neutral palette.
So in the upper tier is black construction paper with white lettering reading:
-expected monthly
-expected non-monthly
-unexpected
-wild cards
Other black areas develop/d and are: - No action required: file
- Follow up action required due to sender error
The second tier is in brown construction paper located under each appropriate black header
- follow up action for expected monthly
- follow up action for expected non-monthly
- follow up action for unexpected
- follow up action for sender errors
I don’t have a brown card for follow up action on wild cards because just this stuff is so very, very difficult and I must relearn it.
And if you must relearn it or know someone who is facing similar “challenges” I’ve tried a lot of systems and so far this is the only one that has worked or at least seems to be working. For me its as if every piece of mail is written on clear paper and they all overlap and I can’t see any of it. That’s an analogy and not literally what I see but mail becomes, quickly an overlap of related topics that; become tangled together like a ball of yarn and then I am almost immediately confused.
However in this system if I/one gets overwhelmed or confused there are no materials to put away. That was the failure point of other systems- by the time I’d get the materials assembled I’d be so confused that the venture - well that would be as far as I could get. Tack the materials up on a wall it is simply there waiting for when you can. And to the non ”challenged” that doesn’t mean “when one feels like it” but when one actually can.
When the mail comes in tack it up and place it sequentially in the appropriate black column. Later move that mail item down and tack it up under the follow up action brown sub header… when you’re at that stage. If there’s anything you need to remember about this action set or the various action sets required to execute the steps for completing this particular task, or if its helpful, write down the steps or what materials you will need (checkbook, etc) use post its or hand write notes on the envelope because too you may have to go to one more destinations to fully execute what is required in that envelope and you may need to preplan those supplies.
Okay so that’s a strategy for mail just the opening and execution and having a means for knowing where you are in those many, many action sets of a huge array of categories, some of which overlap, and make up a very minute portion of the tasks of daily living.
I can write you any essay - have progressed with technical instructions and I can even write you a story but if you’re a TBI like me once something is out of your visual range its essentially completely forgotten.
I got rid of an Anderson bed with drawers because after six plus years of not being able to remember what was in the drawers I gave up… unfortunately it did not occur to me to simply label the drawers like in “Away From Her”. Had I, I’d still have drawers instead of see through plastic containers.
That is one reason why this whole no paper thing doesn’t work for me, a screen disappears and I don’t remember what the screen was, I get lost in and on computers and I doubt I’m rare in the world of TBIs that way. Many of us simply will not be able to make the digital conversion. Hertz rotations can not only make me dizzy but can actually physically throw me.
A neighborhood kid who went to college and grew up came back and worked at the building in front of mine: Best Buy for a brief time. He and I did an experiment a few years back. He and I talked about the visual problems I had and still have and one night he took me around the store to sample some screens, computers and televisions .
Hertz rotations we found were critical (the higher the hertz the dizzier I am and may just become nauseous and feel like hurling within a few seconds). Or I may start falling to the ground.
We also found materials seem to influence whatever became of my eye and brain system. There was some ‘new’ type of more environmentally correct screen made from sand and between that, and possibly the hertz rotation, he literally had to catch me because my eyes sat on that screen for maybe a second or two and I got so dizzy he had to physically catch me because of something that will probably be common place in living rooms and public spaces oh so soon. For me the entire ground felt like it suddenly shifted upward…though I guess that may have been due to me falling downward?
I sampled Kindles, or the other one, and I will not anytime soon be able to read on one. The old, original is easier on my eye brain connection and the new one is just beyond that system’s capabilities.
When I write I don’t look at the screen except to check and edit because I can’t, the more I see that screen the less time I can spend doing it and I am always dizzy when I come off a computer. For me they might as well be amusement park rides.
People ever want to show pictures on their phones and again I presume its pixel refreshment and hertz rotations- for me it is small doses of kryptonite. I see people walk and do things on their phones at the same time- I doubt I will ever be able to do that .
But back to mail.
White plain binders and a hole puncher
After your mail is opened and all actions are executed the papers can be filed. I’ve found white binders in every sender category to be extremely helpful. Also helpful: using the actual logo of the mailer instead of writing by hand or printing it: makes it easier to match and not be done under by something as small and insignificant as just translating those two images and registering they really, really are the same thing and match. For some reason my brain glitches on that, and I again I can be in slip quick slide into confusion.
All supplies should be placed in close proximity to the mail wall and in my experience in the same flat visual field.
So ends a possible suggestion for a means, way and manner for TBI’s and other challenged individuals to learn or re-learn how to do: mail.
I needed to relearn how to write for many reasons. One being I desperate because a good deal of the time I can not rely on my verbal communication skills. In a goal or task oriented situation I am in serious trouble. Wandering conversations that I can do but once I encounter anything below board or challenging I have extreme difficulty getting the job done.
So if you’re a TBI or a stroke patient or know someone who is and they’re having difficulty managing their affairs/ mail give the system a try. If nothing else they’ll be less frustrated. And if you’re not a TBI or a stroke victim but know someone who is this is what life is like with one, its hard and from one: we know that.
Within the last two years it took me over six months to remember/learn what was behind four doors in a very small corridor. The brown doors =: the bathroom, the linen closet, the bedroom and the coat closet.
It took me six weeks in the homeless shelter to remember that the locker room was locked until six from about 7 am to six pm- day after day and week after week I’d not have my purse or the coat or something I needed or whatever because I couldn’t get that one daily repeating thing to solidify as memory. Until it’s a story I don’t remember and if I or circumstances don’t convert it into a narrative...think about it: six months to remember what’s behind four doors, day after day. Week after week. Month after month.
That’s the reality of life with and as a TBI, this one at least.
