Coping tools

Amputee OT Shows Us How to Have Fun With Adversity

by Bill Brenner July 12, 2013 Coping tools

I found some information about Christina Stephens, the amputee who made herself a limb out of LEGOs. The video of her making the leg was inspiring on its own, but there’s more to this woman than becoming a YouTube sensation. It turns out she has made a series of videos about life as an amputee. Here’s footage of her the day after her amputation: Her YouTube channel has dozens of clips of her learning to…  [Read More]

Be The Blessing

by Bill Brenner July 9, 2013 Coping tools

This was originally written after the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings. Many tragic events have happened since then, most notably the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdowns, the resulting economic calamity and now race riots in cities across America after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after being pinned down by a white officer. Now more than ever, we must put aside hate and be a force for good in the lives of…  [Read More]

Black Sabbath and the Sick Bed

by Bill Brenner June 12, 2013 Coping tools

Wherein the author stays still and rocks out. Only a week into the new job, I got blasted with the stomach bug from Hell. It started coming on Monday night and kept me up all night and in bed all day Tuesday. Those who know me will tell you I get up before 5 a.m. and am usually working by 6. To spend a whole day in bed is unthinkable. Yet that’s what I did….  [Read More]

Five Things That Overwhelm Me

by Bill Brenner May 23, 2013 Coping tools

Though I got rid of the fear-based anxiety that kept me indoors and afraid of everything, I still have moments when I get overwhelmed. Mood music: [spotify:track:2uKcU4FPX5eOjmd6RWb9OF] Call it sensory overload or severe impatience, if you will. Or perhaps the latter two are mere byproducts of the first. Here are some examples: Long lines. Whether it’s waiting for a seat in a restaurant, for entry into a movie theater or for boarding a boat, long…  [Read More]

My Therapist Fired Me

by Bill Brenner April 29, 2013 Coping tools

For the first time in many years, I have no therapist. No shrink to call my own. The guy who worked me through five years of challenges officially fired me Friday. Mood music: [spotify:track:28clONjZmul6FjfO6tZQDE] Maybe it was all the times I walked into his office with a huge cup of Starbucks bold. He was always on me about quitting coffee because it’s “just another drug.” Bringing coffee to my appointments was my way of telling…  [Read More]

Julian Assange: Autistic Hacker Or Just An A-hole?

by Bill Brenner April 9, 2013 Communication Skills

Last year I wrote a post about a report suggesting autism is an affliction of the brilliant. One man mentioned as an example was WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has described himself as having the “hacker’s disease.” Yesterday, a reader’s comment inspired me to revisit the issue. Mood music: [spotify:track:74Tgft8pxSCO0nkf4uxiM4] The reader said in part: This compares a neurological disorder to genius people whose curiosity takes finite state machines to places that their creators never imagined. How’s…  [Read More]

Human Tourniquets And Freaks Who Love Them

by Bill Brenner March 29, 2013 Communication Skills

I originally wrote this three years ago. Looking at it again, it’s an important post describing a time when not even best friends were safe from my insanity. I’ve updated it for the present.  Mood music: [spotify:track:2YGwSRjcY4Hjz6fktW9619] You know the type. They hang  out with people who act more like abusive spouses than friends. They are human tourniquets. They absorb the pain of their tormentor daily and without complaint. This is the story of the…  [Read More]

How To Avoid Becoming #RSAC Roadkill

by Bill Brenner February 19, 2013 Coping tools

Last year was a first: I had a stay-at-home vacation a week before flying out to a big conference. We took the kids to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and did a lot of relaxing. It worked so well I’m doing it again. Mood music: The kids are on their February school vacation, which was my main reason for choosing this week. That it fell the week before RSA — one of the…  [Read More]

The Snow Day Has Been Cancelled

by Bill Brenner January 22, 2013 Coping tools

Weather forecasters said we’d get a lot of snow, but only a dusting fell around here. School is on after all, and the kids will surely be disappointed. It goes to show that sometimes life doesn’t work out as planned. Mood music: [spotify:track:4wLjdZD9khhahbzhb3RxtJ] As a man with OCD, I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. When you have a brain that never stops thinking, you tend to expect certain things out of your day. When…  [Read More]

Five Traveling Tips for OCD Heads

by Bill Brenner July 16, 2012 Coping tools

Staying healthy while traveling has never been easy for an OCD case like me. When I traveled to New York in June, I pushed myself to the point where I was lying on the floor of the airport as I typed away, waiting for the flight home. My LA trip the month before ended pretty much the same way. I don’t really sleep on these trips. There’s too much to do and see, too many…  [Read More]

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