Get Your Head Out of the Clouds (W 4th part I)

Lengthening my stride, I didn’t look twice as I hurried towards glow of the subway entrance.  My destination was in sight – West 4th.  

I raced down the cement steps into the welcoming warmth and stopped short at the turnstile.  After a few minutes fumbling in my pockets with unwieldy halfway-frozen fingers, I clumsily extracted my metro card.  

 Ordinarily I like walking through the labyrinthine streets of downtown New York.  It wasn’t that cold of a night, coming back from my friend’s party at Cocoa Bar to the West 4^th stop shouldn’t have been a problem, but I wasn’t dressed for it.  In a hurry, I’d left my scarf at home and somewhere during the course of the day I had lost one of my gloves.  Scarfless, gloveless, and wearing a cute dress, I was still frozen solid when I made my way to the C platform to wait for the late night A train.  Lots of people waiting – good – there hadn’t been a train for a while.  One would be coming soon.

This is the new New York.  Ten years ago a girl like me walking around alone at night in these neighborhoods would have been worse than stupid, or so they tell me.  I missed my opportunity to experience the mean streets of New York by a few years, moving to the city in 2005, but I’ve heard the stories.  We all have.

It is probably for the best that I did not move to New York “back in the day,” given my unfortunate tendency towards inattentiveness.  This is a symptom common to brain injury, and it has gotten much better over the years.  Today if I concentrate and remind myself then I am perfectly capable of having a keen awareness of my surroundings.  However, this vigilance no longer comes naturally to me, and if I don’t then I may remain blissfully unaware of even the most strident warning bells and whistles.  When I enter a new or potentially dangerous setting, I try to be careful, but staying on guard all the time saps my energy.  

It's great that I don't have the added stress of living in a war zone like Batman's Gotham City, but unfortunately, dangers don't regulate themselves to sprawling metropolises or foreign situations.  They may be different types, but accidents can just as easily happen on a suburban street, or in your own home.  It is always best to be aware of who is nearby and what is happening around you, because carelessness and inattention can be deadly.  Because of deficits like inattention and poor judgment among others, a survivor is three times more likely to have a second injury and eight times more likely to sustain a third.  As difficult as it can be, it is a good idea to be mindful of your surroundings when you are alone.  If constant vigilance is too much, than at least try to remember to assess your surroundings when you enter a new place, or stay with someone who can help you with this. 

Three times more likely to sustain a second injury and eight times more likely for a third.  Wow.  

I know I haven’t always been as careful of this as I should and writing this, has really been wake up call.  While the statistics are still fresh in my mind I'm going to start taking a few extra precautions, be a little more careful and do my part to change those odds….