Concentration is closely related to the fatigue problems I struggle with. The more I concentrate my fatigue increases and concentration decreases.
When I pay attention to what other people are saying, I need to shut-out sounds and noises which also requires concentration and adds to the fatigue. One of the results of my brain injury is the distracting tinging sensation I feel in my thighs. I don’t know what explains the soreness, perhaps damage to the nerves or the brain stem. The point is it affects my concentration since I need to consistently block-out the soreness.
Other physical difficulties which require concentration are walking, balance and co-ordination. I can walk but I need to think about how I plant my foot and balance my weight. I believe a three year old has more agility than I do.
When I go on my walking exercises I need to look down, the ground doesn’t distract my concentration by moving or talking to me. Yes visual motion and audio sounds are a distractions when I concentrate.
Cognitive skills require concentration as well. I have difficulty finishing projects, retaining information and I’m slow at understanding. Creating this website/blog is an example of my cognitive struggles.
I know HTML and CSS (both are code for making websites), however WordPress (software for making blogs) was new to me. My difficulty was understanding WordPress and integrating it with the code that I knew. I couldn’t afford to pay someone to make the website and I couldn’t take a class and learn it; too much information is presented too quickly and I become overwhelmed. So I printed tutorials from the internet, some I understood, but many I didn’t. I needed to read them several times since I have trouble retaining information. While making the website/blog, the information would become too large for me to grasp what I have done and I would need to repeat what I did so I could understood.
In the end it took me three years to complete including two six months breaks from working. I’m grateful this project was meaningful to me and I have patience. There have been other projects which I’ve abandoned since my injury.