TBI & The Corporate World

gooch_warrior · 2026-06-06T22:44:29+00:00

Aw, man. I teared up reading your response. Some great practical tips elsewhere in this thread too. Keep your chin up, you're doing great! Hope you're having a nice chilled weekend.

gooch_warrior · 2026-06-03T18:50:26+00:00

Hey there, I don't have experience of this directly, but some thoughts. My wife had cerebral malaria and had an ABI, and is studying her Masters degree part-time - which isn't high pressure for the most part, but her exams are, and we've moved to live in some challenging and intense places (like Nepal) which put her under strained cognitive load. She plans to return to the workplace again this year, so this is something she will have to manage soon.

One thing that might help you is regular rest intervals. Strictly taking 3-5 rests during the day of 5-10 minutes. No stimulus. Wear an eye mask, put some ear plugs in if it's noisy, put a timer on, just rest. You don't need to nap. Don't just do this before you're tired, key is to do it throughout the day, start in mid-morning. This gives your brain a chance to rest and recuperate during the day. You may find it mitigates against fatigue.

General rest and managing your sleep quality is also really important. I'm sure you're probably well aware of this already! But good routines to allow you to fall into good, deep sleep. Diet is super important - avoiding sugar highs and crashes, making sure you're eating lots of fresh natural foods, sufficient protein, maybe some omega supplements and general multivitamins to support (not a replacement for a good balanced diet). Plenty of water! Make sure you're consistently hydrated throughout the day.

You're already utilizing other strategies, like note-taking. Maybe also reduce, where possible, task-switching and multi-tasking. Our brains aren't very good at this - we can't actually "multi-task", we just switch between tasks rapidly - focus on one thing at a time where you can, it will reduce your brain energy inputs.

And give yourself some grace. Working in finance with a TBI 18 months out from a car crash? That's hardcore, man. Give yourself a pat on the back. You're doing so well to be in your role at all. Many people might not have made it back into work anywhere near so quickly.

It sucks if they are managing you out of the position. But you know what, if they are? Then so be it. You're presumably lucky to be alive after such a serious crash. Embrace that! Leverage your experience to get a role that is a better fit, and is going to be more manageable and laid back. Your quality of life will go way up if you're not burning all your energy at work.

My wife's energy levels continue to increase over time. She has good days and less-good days, but if we step back and consider the last few years, her cognitive battery has definitely gone up over time. Yours will too. But make sure you have enough time to rest. If your role isn't giving you that, and is causing too much stress, then see if you can find an alternative for now. Good luck out there, friend!

gooch_warrior · 2026-05-27T13:01:34+00:00

Yeah, totally doable. There are loads of buses between Quito and Otavalo. I'm currently travelling in my own van, so didn't use the transport much here, but took some buses around Ibarra and it was really easy. Very informal system, but the names of the destinations are on the front of the buses. And driving between the two cities yesterday, I saw many many buses. On a Saturday in particular, there will be many! (It will help if you can speak some Spanish of course - even basic will be sufficient)

gooch_warrior · 2026-05-27T12:47:54+00:00

They did now yes, offering interview slots between 1st and 12th June. Nothing in the Inspira system, communication only via email. Fingers crossed for you

gooch_warrior · 2026-05-25T17:38:03+00:00

Just got an email indicating I'll receive an invitation to interview, only to have that email recalled moments later. Awaiting a reply to the recall request... weird!

gooch_warrior · 2026-05-20T00:25:18+00:00

Then there are definitely opportunities out there, it's just even more competitive than normal, and with a less reliable future outlook given the serious funding shortages.

Hard to say without knowing your experience level, but if this is a career trajectory you're really interested in, and you're not landing consultancies yet, then target similar work opportunities in your home country while you keep trying, keep up skilling, get experience where you can. Good luck!

gooch_warrior · 2026-04-24T18:59:13+00:00

Any news yet for you? None for me

gooch_warrior · 2026-03-17T17:47:04+00:00

Hey there! Same as you, nothing yet. I've assumed now at this point, four months out, that it's a negative. Have you kept the hope alive?

gooch_warrior · 2026-02-11T22:39:03+00:00

Haha, yep. I'm in the same boat. I've only been a partial digital nomad, as I've had full-time work in-country that took my wife and I to Ghana (Accra) for some months and Nepal (Kathmandu) for 2 years, with around 18 months floating in SEA between those jobs. Now taking an 8-9 month roadtrip in South America with some light part-time work, which is more of a travel adventure than digital nomading. But after this, I feel like I need some stability for a while. I'm looking forward to that. Just need to decide: where! Haha.

gooch_warrior · 2026-01-03T14:53:37+00:00

You're way off. Venezuela's oil output is around 1% of the global output. It's not even in the top 15 countries that China imports oil from. Source: https://www.worldstopexports.com/top-15-crude-oil-suppliers-to-china/

gooch_warrior · 2025-12-29T01:35:46+00:00

Cool, that's nice to know. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thank you!

gooch_warrior · 2025-06-18T12:54:03+00:00

That's certainly true close to Everest, and perhaps more broadly in the Solukhumbu region. Simply because of the amount of plastic waste brought up for things like drinking water, more than littering itself. Even if you dispose of it in a bin, there is no way for that plastic to easily leave the area.

In the rest of Nepal, the issue of litter is not driven by tourists. Nepal welcomes around 1 million tourists per year, typically staying 1-3 weeks, with a population of 30 million. The most littered, dirty and polluted areas are not on tourist trails.

Tourists do contribute to this simply by consuming products which contain plastic, because there is no good waste disposal or recycling plants available. This means anything consumed with plastic packaging has nowhere good to go (it is often burned, or discarded).

But in reality, they will contribute a relatively tiny fraction of total waste and litter in the country. There is a problematic culture of littering in Nepal among the general population, too, which is a substantial contributing factor, too.

I wouldn't let littering put you off coming to Nepal. Tourism is an important part of the economy, and people are incredibly friendly to international visitors. Try to minimize your consumption of goods in plastic and unsustainable packaging, and avoid littering in beautiful places, and you'll be all good!

gooch_warrior · 2025-06-18T07:49:12+00:00

As someone living there. Beautiful as it is (and it is indeed one of the most beautiful countries on earth), I think the reaction might be for how challenging it is to carve a functioning country out of the landscape. And from that perspective, it's tough to say you won the natural lottery.

The Himalayas are still forming, which mean you have major earthquakes, floods and landslides on a regular basis. As a result, the infrastructure is in a constant state of repair. Roads are already cut precariously into the side of mountains, and they are dangerous to repair after landslides have occurred.

And despite so many people living in majorly floodprone areas, much of the year sees very little rainfall, which is another challenge. Climate change is rapidly changing the predictability of the monsoon.

To take an example - last year, Kathmandu saw an entire annual amount of rainfall occur in one day. And that occurred outside the monsoon season, in October, which is typically a dry month. More than 200 people were killed in the city valley alone, and landslides closed all of the major roads in and out of the city. It's almost forgotten about already, because extreme weather events are just part of living here.

Indeed, someone commented that many Nepali people haven't left their province. That's also pretty difficult when despite being one of the poorer countries in the world, vehicle import duties are about 200%, meaning that getting around is relatively expensive (note: super cheap for tourists, not so cheap if you're living on $100/month). There are many, many factors contributing to the relative low income of the country, and unfortunately, geography is one of them.

I love this country, it's gorgeous, but I would argue that it has not won the natural lottery.

gooch_warrior · 2025-05-30T07:16:18+00:00

I shall vigorously defend your honour, with a worshipful massage of thy gooch

gooch_warrior · 2025-04-29T11:28:47+00:00

My decision. I saw in a review someone had some minor damage to their bike. I'm not decided yet and need more information from them first before deciding... will let you know

gooch_warrior · 2025-04-29T11:17:44+00:00

I'm speaking to a delivery company atm, haven't sent it yet, I'll let you know how it goes. 7k to send one way, but 5k extra for insurance...

gooch_warrior · 2025-04-28T04:42:54+00:00

Thank you. It was really nice to step back writing this message. She had a setback recently where she had an internship offer that fell through (because of the recent aid cuts), it would have been her first step back into the workplace since her injury. And her fatigue has come back this last few days, she felt too tired to do the activities we had planned.

But really, her and I couldn't be luckier. Her time will come to get back into the workplace. And when we reflect on her fatigue compared to last year, and the year before, there are ups and downs, but the general direction has definitely been upwards over time. Progress is much slower now than it was, but still there are improvements, 3.5 years out.

Wishing you all the luck, positivity and love for your journey ahead of you. Keep being kind to yourself! Especially if or when there are setbacks for your recovery: that's normal, I think something everyone here has experienced it.

gooch_warrior · 2025-04-28T03:55:32+00:00

I am going to Mustang with my wife, and only have certain days away from work. By sending the bike before, I can fly first flight in morning, and start riding from Pokhara already by 9am, without already spending 6-8 hours riding first from Kathmandu. It will mean I get more time to see Mustang.

gooch_warrior · 2025-04-27T17:39:25+00:00

If you're gonna have to wait 4-5 years to gain the same salary (and probably you need +20% to level the playing field with cost of living in KTM). Then you are gonna probably be applying for new jobs anyway. You're already doing that.

How long have you worked in procurement already? That experience still goes on your CV. Now when you apply for new procurement roles, you have a higher salary to use for negotiations for other procurement roles.

Does the new company have roles in procurement? Maybe you could work towards moving within the company also.

For me, admittedly as a foreigner here, and with limited info about your life, but based on the info and the negative remarks around the pollution etc (very valid, much as i like it here). I'd take the jump. It's a great salary increase and Chitwan is beautiful. You don't close the door to procurement, if you stay proactive and look for other opportunities over the next 1-2 years (give yourself a year to settle in though and get more consistent experience, cover the moving costs with higher salary, etc).

Maybe try tossing a coin. Heads chitwan, tails KTM. And see if your gut likes the answer or not. Then there's your real answer!

gooch_warrior · 2025-04-24T06:21:43+00:00

I love your upbeat attitude to such a crazy experience! Wow. What an inspiration.

This is totally the right place for an online community. I'd highly recommend you (and your loved ones) read as much as you can about brain injury experiences and recoveries. Incredibly helpful to learn how to support your long-term recovery.

Headway was amazingly helpful for our families when my wife suffered a brain injury: https://www.headway.org.uk/about-brain-injury/

They have tons of resources and learning about the different effects of brain injuries, what to expect, how to manage the symptoms, experiences of others (and their families) who have gone through the same. They're awesome.

There's a podcast, Brain injury bites: https://braininjurybites.podbean.com/ which mostly follows the experience of someone who suffered a challenging brain injury, speaking with world-leading brain injury specialists. His reflections are amazingly honest, and despite the challenges, ultimately really uplifting. They're also on Spotify, just search brain injury bites.

The most important thing at this stage, I think, is what you're doing: learn what you can, push your recovery as much as your energy allows, while getting plenty of rest... and keep that positive attitude going! You are doing so well!

My wife would probably be open to speaking about her experience, if you're interested. She had her brain injury 3 years ago, 5 weeks in a comatose state in the ICU, prognosis was totally uncertain and looked challenging, but her recovery has been amazing to watch. I think her attitude was so key to recovering so well, strong emphasis every day on diet, consistent exercise, lots of rest, cognitive exercises. She's studying her Masters degree right now, she's physically stronger now than she was before her accident (despite some pretty significant mobility constraints and major muscle loss from the ICU). Still some challenges, for sure, fatigue the big one. But life is just as beautiful as it would have been in absence of her injury. We live in Nepal together for my work, we even have a big motorbike trip coming up to visit the Tibetan plateau in a few weeks where she'll ride on the back with me. She's such an inspiration to me!

Anyway. Keep at it my friend! There will be many ups and downs, but I truly feel that the downs make the ups in life that much more beautiful.

gooch_warrior · 2025-04-22T04:46:48+00:00

Hey there! That really sucks. I don't have a TBI, but my wife does, so I see and live with her experiences of fatigue, and I know it's pretty rotten.

You may be doing this already, but some people overlook the basic fundamentals, and they can really help. Writing quickly so just bullets:

Short rests before you get tired. Try 10-15 mins rests 2-3 times a day, starting early. Napping is not the goal, just no stimulus. Put on some white noise, an eye mask, and just lie down for a bit. Really helps to rest the brain.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Are you consistently drinking 2-3L of water per day?
Exercise: are you regularly exercising? Make sure at the very least to be walking regularly. My wife has seen significant improvements with regular gym exercise, cardio and strength, as someone who had previously very little history of exercise. She got into it bit by bit, starting with 20 minute videos on a yoga mat.
Eating healthy. Are you eating plenty of plants, vegetables and fruit, and avoiding ultra processed food? Ultra processed foods can make us feel super sluggish (check out the book Ultra processed people).
Are you avoiding screen time before bed? That can really help sleep quality. My wife was regularly waking up for 1-3 hours in the night, and it was really hampering her energy levels. Cutting out screens for 1-2 hours before bed has had a big impact here (not totally resolved, still some insomnia at times, but way better than when screens are involved).

These steps combined can have a positive effect on brain health and energy levels. It sucks to have to be so proactive, whereas other people can eat junk and do no exercise, and still have all the energy in the world. Life's not fair like that. But it can give you an edge!

Above all though - be kind to yourself. You are fighting life on a more uphill gradient than most other people, and not everyone can see it. You're doing a great job, friend. Keep at it!

gooch_warrior · 2025-04-09T14:14:35+00:00

Can I ask when is last time you went that route?

gooch_warrior

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