Living well after stroke is all about your personal goals and how willing you are to accept what has happened to you and how you respond to it. Accepting the stroke is a good start to living a good life after a stroke. Adaptation is extremely helpful in living well after stroke, too. Activities of daily living (ADL) are very important for all of us and therapy and assistive tools can be very helpful in becoming more and more independent; re-learning the tasks it takes to accomplish things like getting dressed, eating, driving, writing, etc. could be a challenge so take it slow and just like any therapy focus on what you’re doing and practice, practice, practice.

A big part of living well after a stroke is appreciating the little things in life. I never used to do this, but now I can appreciate playing pool again even though I can’t make a good bridge with my affected hand. It’s more of a challenge now but I have adapted and can do something I love again. Fishing is the same thing, I still really enjoy it, but had to adapt to using one hand to cast and retrieve, but I looked for a solution to my problem and found that there are fly reels that are spring-loaded and can retrieve lines automatically. All these changes are small but give me a lot of pleasure. So, look for the little things in life that you can change to make life more enjoyable. Learn to adapt and don’t be too critical of yourself.