In this solo presentation, concussion survivor David Brimacombe shares his 20‑year, seven‑concussion experience to illustrate that post‑concussion syndrome (PCS) recovery often requires a fundamental change in personal identity. He explains how his previously unstructured lifestyle—irregular sleep, poor nutrition, and lack of stress management—failed to support healing once his autonomic and circadian systems were dysregulated. Through trial and error he discovered that establishing consistent daily structure (fixed wake‑up and bedtime, regular meals, morning and night protocols) creates a sense of safety and predictability for the body, facilitating autonomic regulation and symptom reduction. Brimacombe emphasizes the need to become the person who prioritizes self‑care, using mantras, a clear “why” or North Star, and self‑advocacy to resist social pressures and make disciplined choices. He warns against the common mistake of waiting for symptom relief before implementing routines, urging immediate adoption of structured habits. The video serves as a motivational guide, offering practical lifestyle recommendations and a mindset shift for anyone navigating PCS recovery.
Chapters
In PCS, recovery isn't just about symptom management. It's about identity. Oftentimes, in order to recover, you need to change who you are. Hi and welcome to the PCS Resilience Collective. My name is David Brimacombe, and after 7 concussions over 20 years, I learned how my identity needed to be shifted to someone who cared about structure and routine In order to heal. Let's begin. I'm going to use myself as an example. Before my concussion, it didn't really matter if I went to bed on time, had a consistent sleep cycle, if I ate, you know, nutritious food, if I, you know, did any kind of stress management. My body was fairly resilient. Okay, I could get up whenever I wanted and, and kind of go about my day. I'd be I'd be fine. Maybe not great, but I'd be fine. Okay, post-concussion, things changed. Okay, my body was stressed, my mind was uneasy, and as such, I couldn't go living that same way. I couldn't go as someone who sporadically ate, ate poorly, slept when he wanted, got up when he wanted. My body never felt a sense of safety. never felt a sense of predictability. And as such, I wasn't healing. I wasn't healing at all. I was for weeks on end just lying in bed, eating when I felt like it, sleeping the majority of the day. And my body had no structure, no routine, no predictability, and therefore no safety. Okay? So the biggest thing I learned was through trial and error, through years of trial and error, Is that I needed to start my day and end my day with structure. I needed structure throughout my day, when I ate, what I ate, when I slept, when I got up. And again, you don't want to feel like a robot, but guess what? The body craves structure. Even if you're not someone who is recovering from a concussion, structure creates safety and predictability in the body. That is exactly what we want. We have a circadian rhythm for a reason. Your body runs on a cycle, okay? Because that is how it's intended to work. It's intended to have some predictability. And again, I always thought that I'm okay not being average. It's 7 or 8 years ago I decided this. I made this point to myself. If I'm okay not being average, because if you really think about it, The average person my age is overweight, has at least one chronic disease, is on tons of medication, is stressed out of their mind, possibly in debt. That's not who I want to be. If that is average, I am straying from that person as far and as quick as possible. And I can tell you this unequivocally, that I am a better person today than I was before my first concussion. Crazy to think, right? Again, I was in my 20s for my first concussion, but understand this, I had no structure. I was eating crap, like legitimately just crap, whatever I could put in my body, okay? And I felt it. I didn't feel great. I was irritable. I was— I had mood swings, okay? I had my concussions and I tried to live that same way, and it wasn't working. It wasn't working for obvious reasons. I had blood flow dysregulation. I had autonomic nervous system dysregulation, and I tried to live that same life. That life was not the life to live, especially when you're recovering. So I started to dabble in recovery routines, creating small structures, starting really small, eating the same food every morning, then getting up and going to bed at the same time, and then having the same morning routine and night routine. And giving my body predictability, creating safety in myself. And over time, that made a monumental difference, okay? Because to recover, sometimes you need to change who you are, okay? And again, it's, it's going to be hard. I can tell you this. You go to a friend's house, you go to a party, everyone's just crushing beers and chips, and you're sitting there in the corner drinking your water and having your Apple. I mean, it's, it's a tough way to live, but at the end of the day, who are you living for? Are you living for how others perceive you, or are you living to be the best version of yourself? Are you living to actually recover? I, I was always living for others, people's reactions. How are people going to perceive me? That's not the way to live, because at the end of the day They don't have to get up in the morning and feel like crap and struggle through the day because of what they did yesterday, but you do. So you have to be selfish. You have to become the person who cares most about yourself, because in— at the end of the day, no one else is going to care enough to do the things that they need to do to help you. You need to be the one spearheading your recovery. Now, one of the things that you can do Is you can remind yourself with a mantra, with a saying, every morning you get up. I am someone who prioritizes healing. You can remind yourself in those times when you have a choice to make. I can do what I know is right, or I can do the easy thing. I can do the socially acceptable thing, go for drinks with friends, stay out late. Again, your former self, it was probably perfectly fine. But if your goal, your reason for watching this channel, your North Star is to be recovered, is to be a better version of yourself, then sometimes you have to say no. And you have to say, you know what, I need to work on myself. And working on myself means getting to bed, getting up at the right time, eating the right foods. If your friends are friends, they'll understand. And guess what? It doesn't mean you can never go out with them and never see them. But what it does mean is that you're prioritizing yourself. If you don't put your own oxygen mask on first, how can you help anyone else? And this is what I slowly started to recover during my journey. I was trying to just survive. I felt like crap. I was dizzy. I would see 4 door openings and just try to figure out which one I should walk through, but I just tried to just keep going. I never worked on myself. I tried to pretend like I was normal. When someone would ask, how are you? I'm fine, I'm good. Standard answer. I wasn't. I was far from that. I was feeling terrible. I could hardly cope, but I didn't want other people's sympathy. I didn't want for someone to say, what's wrong with him? I wanted just to feel like I was normal. And if people perceived me to be normal, maybe I was It's just going to become normal. That's not the case. You have to stand up for yourself. Tell people, you know what, I'm, I'm recovering. I need this in order to be a better version of myself. I need to go to bed. I need this assistance. And if they're truly a friend, truly someone on your side, they will help you. They will understand. Not easy, but it is something you need to do. Now, the biggest thing I need you to take away is that you can't Wait to feel better to act better. Okay, this is the hardest thing to grasp. It was for me, at least. I was waiting for that day where I felt like I was symptom-free, and then I was going to start that routine. Then I was going to start with my morning protocol. That day never happened, and I therefore didn't start my routines. I would just kind of live in my haze, get up like a zombie, get dressed, go to work. Come home, fall asleep while reading my kids' stories, and be mad and, and feel gross. And, and that was just my existence. That was years of my life, years gone down the drain. If I knew this stuff today, if I applied this stuff in my darkest moments, I wouldn't have had that long of a recovery. But maybe much like yourself, you don't have that information, you don't have that insight, and that's why I'm here to tell you I am the person who is 5 years ahead of you, who has gone through this, gone through the muck, and I've seen the other side. I've seen the stars, I've seen the Northern Lights, I've seen the sun rise, and it feels pretty good. But it takes time, and it forces you to be your biggest advocate, to be the best version of yourself in order to see that future self that you really want to be. Now, If you haven't watched my video on finding your why, I'm going to post that up above because that's important— understanding why you're doing this. Okay, what is your North Star? Thank you very much for listening, and remember, you can recover. It requires a better version of yourself. Have yourself a great day.
