How are people doing with TBI recovery?

I will be at 3 years next month. I still have memory issues, mostly for names and finding the right word when I need it. Also, multi-tasking is a thing of the past. If I set out to do one thing and see something else to do, thing one is gone.. If I go to a store, I need a list.
However, when I spend time with friends my age or even younger, I find that I am often quicker at coming up with the word or name. So, this is normal for my age, just not for me. Very frustrating!
I'm still very useful and productive. Fix lots of things at home and for others. Installed a new(not replaced) window in my dining room, Bought a used 16' boat, replaced the floor and remodeled the whole interior and trailer.. Installed a new combination on demand water heater/furnace for a friend. People know I can fix everything and can't say 'no'.
I depend on the To-Do list on my phone and tablet as well as my Outlook calendar for appointments.

Hi Folks~
Hey, it's encouraging to realize that there are others even further out from their brain injuries who are still struggling.....that I'm not alone with this. It's hard not to get discouraged. My nasty fall on the ice will be two years ago next month, and I still walk with a cane to keep upright from the "whirlies." Must say, though, the other symptoms have mostly faded. Hurray! Best wishes to you all.
Ann

I too was discouraged by slow recovery. I failed to account for my age mid-sixties at the time of my accident. I expected that when I got my cast off my arm and all the wires cut out of my mouth life would soon return to normal. Truth is, it took me months to be able to open my mouth wide enough to eat a hamburger.
But, on the positive side, many of my friends told me I was lucky to be alive. My response is: and even luckier that I'm not in a wheelchair or a vegetable!
My point, Keeping a positive attitude is so crucial to recovery. Be patient with yourself and celebrate every little achievement, every inch of progress. Keep busy and keep trying.
Most of my neighbors are amazed at the speed I turned three cords of logs into a stack of firewood, with a chainsaw and splitting maul. No wood splitter.

Hevykevy, for the two-plus years I have been reading your posts you have epitomized a great attitude. Thank you for sharing it.

Thanks, Kevy, for the encouraging reply to my update and the reminder to be patient and keep positive. That's one impressive stack of firewood in the picture!

What I often hear is "how you are in two years post-injury is how you will stay". We've learned recovery - along with adaptation, adjustment, and awareness of what's different and learning to compensate - can continue for a good long while. Some find the notion of a more open ended process frustrating, others see it as a chance to keep improving beyond an arbitrary timeline.

Interesting that this post came on the third anniversary of my TBI. It's easy to remember because some ship sank on the same day.
I might be a wishful thinker (I try to be) but the thought of an end to improvement rubs me the wrong way. How does that saying go: "The more we learn, the more we realize how much we don't know."
My Occupational Therapist explained that a TBI is like a library where all the books got dumped on the floor. Our job is to pick them back up and put them back on the shelves IN ORDER! In 66+ years I had a lot of books, and we don't even know they are on the floor till we need that particular book, then we need to find it. It took all those years to add to what we know; can we expect it to all jump back in two? About a month ago someone mentioned a name that I recognized as the son of a daughter of someone I have known for many years, but haven't seen for ten. Of course, the last name was different. It took me about 2 weeks to come up with the names, but I did it.
I recently read an article about arctic ground squirrels. https://medium.com/biobuds/ground-squirrels-and-hibernation-b210c638bebc The article I read originally was on JW.org. You'll have to copy and paste, can't seem to create a hyperlink. Something in their brains makes them regenerate damage caused by hibernation. The hyperlink worked!!!
There is so much we don't know and I'm convinced that our brains are capable of amazing things.

The other side of this coin is: all those people who are now old, and NOW suffering from football injuries in high school.
There is something to be said about accepting and learning to live with limitations, but there is also much to be said about trying to do better.

Well put! Wondering how "There is so much we don't know and I'm convinced that our brains are capable of amazing things" and "There is something to be said about accepting and learning to live with limitations, but there is also much to be said about trying to do better" resonated with @frontrunner and @woodsyann?

Anne, your question hit right on one of the existential dilemmas that I have difficulty with in so many aspects of life--and not just in handling a nasty TBI.

Basically it is how do we balance the good of proactivity/ initiative/ persistence with the good of acceptance/living gracefully and gratefully with limitations? I seem to swing, pendulum-like, from bumbling over-doing the proactivity stuff to an "acceptance" that is actually closer to laziness. How do we accept without being passive? Physical therapy is an example: I'll enthusiastically over-do the exercise bit to the point of pain and then revert to "why bother working at all--just accept it and live with it."

Finding the sweet spot is so difficult: that place where you maintain your enthusiasm and dedication without getting ego-involved in the outcome, continuing the work even when progress isn't immediately evident. AND at the same time, being accepting of true limitations instead of becoming passive and resentful. We're doing a balancing act that isn't easy......

woodsyann, that's it exactly! I have been struggling with much the same thing. At the beginning, I didn't want to give up pushing myself, fearing that a window on healing was closing. Three years later I still don't accept that this is my new life. Sometimes that is good since I keep working. Most of the time it's not so good. If there is a way to find a balance, I don't know it.