In this reflective video, David Brimacombe shares his eight‑year journey recovering from post‑concussion syndrome (PCS) after seven concussions over two decades. He describes the deep emotional and physical low point he experienced—feeling hopeless, disconnected from his family, and trapped in a "shell" of himself. Brimacombe emphasizes that recovery is not a single, dramatic intervention but a series of small, repeatable actions that compound over time. He introduces breathwork (a simple pattern of four inhales and four elongated exhales) as the first concrete step that gave him a sense of agency, even when his symptoms persisted. He argues that consistent, stackable wins reshape identity: moving from seeing oneself as a "PCS patient" to an active change‑agent who can influence outcomes through daily habits. He discusses broader lifestyle modifications—sleep, diet, routines, mindset—that reinforce resilience. Finally, he promotes his PCS Resilience Collective program, inviting viewers to join a waitlist and encouraging subscription to spread the message that responsibility for recovery lies with the individual, even though the condition isn’t their fault.
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8 years ago today, I wasn't trying to optimize my life. I wasn't trying to be the best version of myself. I was simply trying to get through the day. Hi and welcome to the PCS Resilience Collective. My name is David Brimacombe, and after 7 concussions over 20 years, I learned a lot. The biggest thing I learned, I'm going to talk about today. Now, this video is going to be a little bit different. It's a reflective look back. It's a look back 8 years ago when I was in the depths of my most recent bout of PCOS. Okay, I want to talk about what that felt like. What were those emotions, those symptoms, those signs that maybe a lot of you were feeling as well? And what were the things that I did? What was that main thing I did that helped me get out of that rut? Okay, and again, the biggest thing you need to understand and take away from this is that you don't necessarily have to summit that mountain in one day. You're not going to recover in a week. Sometimes it takes a month or even a year. But understand that recovery is not like playing the lottery, where you're going to put all your money down on one hand, you put all your savings down in the hopes of recovering on one supplement, one protocol, one routine, one session with an expert. What recovery is all about, it's about those small stackable wins. It's about doing the right thing every day, the compound interest that happens when you do that consistently. And understand that consistency is the most important thing you're going to learn today. Now, when you're in that darkest phase, that deepest rut, okay, I— this is how I felt. I felt like I did not know what my future was going to look like. I did not know who I was, how I related to my children, who I'd become. I felt like a shell of myself. I felt like someone who was completely distant to what I valued. How I acted wasn't in line with what I thought. I did not feel like I had any hope, any prayer, any belief that I could get out of this. Okay, but things started to shift, and they didn't shift overnight, but they started to shift when I learned one simple thing. That simple thing is that small things stack. You're not born with confidence. You're not born with the competencies and the belief. All those things come From proving to yourself that they're possible. Now again, when you're rolling around in bed, you can't even open your eyes or sit up without those pain, that symptoms, that anxiety, that, that, that kind of disbelief that you can be part of your recovery journey. Okay, again, all those things that are ruminating in your mind about, ah, this is what my life's going to be like. How am I going to get a job? How am I going to take care of my family? And again, in that moment, belief is not going to occur naturally. Okay, what you need to do is you need to do one simple thing, and that one simple thing is going to spark another, which will spark another. It's not about doing everything, it's about doing something. There was a realization in my— in myself when I started doing something. The first thing I did was I tried to do some breathwork. Now again, I'm sure many of you have tried and heard how powerful breathwork— it can change your physiological state, it could change your mental state. But in that moment, to even think about doing anything beyond just breathing seems excessive. So what I did is I did one round, one round of 4 inhales and 4 exhales, elongating that exhale for as long as I could. And what I found is that I didn't feel profoundly different. It's not like I woke up and I was like, whoa, Brain fog gone, anxiety gone. I feel perfect. What I did feel is that I had a say, I had a power. I could actually recreate the path that I was going to walk down, and it didn't have to wait for my body to feel better. I didn't have to wait till I felt perfect to go ahead and start that journey. Now, your journey is not going to always be easy. Now, we understand that this is not a straight path. You're going to have those ups and downs, those good days and the bad days. But that shouldn't stop you. What you need to understand is consistency is where it's at. You need to consistently tell your body that this is the route I'm going to take. Your identity right now is of someone who is suffering from PCS, someone who struggles with post-concussion syndrome, which is perfectly reasonable. But that identity is not going to serve you. That identity is not going to get you healed. What it will is it'll keep you where you are. This is not to Blame you for where you are. I was in that exact point, but the identity shift is necessary because otherwise that performs as a glass ceiling. That blocks all those thoughts, all those actions. When you're going to get up and say, well, I'm going to try this today, you're going to remind yourself, no, I'm someone with PCS. I wouldn't do that. I can't do that. That's not who I am. Shifting that mindset, shifting that belief, shifting who you are as a person. It takes time. It takes those small wins, doing that breathwork for a week straight and understanding that, hey, maybe it didn't make me feel exponentially better. Maybe some of the lightheadedness went away, some of the sensitivities were gone, but what it did is it convinced myself that I could do something even though I didn't feel great. You can't wait for the moment where all that's going to be gone. Because you're going to be sitting there waiting for the rest of your life. You have to take the action, okay? This is an active recovery that requires an active participant. Start today. One of the more profound things that I was always ruminating over is I just want my life back. I want to become the person I used to be, okay? The problem is that's not possible. We are all evolving. We are all evolving regardless of you have a condition or not. Okay, every day you're going to be different than the day prior. You're going to have lessons that you've learned. Maybe you're going to feel differently. Emotions are going to be different. So I'm not going to go back to the person I was. Understand this and believe this to be true: you can actually be a better person in the future than you were prior to your concussion. This would— if I were to talk to myself 8 years ago, 9 years ago, I would not believe this to be true. So again, you might be thinking, this guy's, this guy's a quack, this guy's crazy. There's no way. I feel better today. This is after 7 concussions. This is 28 years removed from that first concussion than I did before all that time. I have the emotional security. I have, uh, the, the mindset, the belief. I have the skills, the competencies that I know I can be a better person today. Okay, but it took time. It took years. of layering things and layering things and building the confidence and changing my identity to become someone who knows that anything that happens in my life— I am not always in control of what other people do, okay? What happens in my life is not always in my control, but I can control how I respond, okay? And again, this came from learning through many, many years of my recovery that you are a change agent. The lifestyle modifications you can make in your sleep, in your diet, in your routines, in your mindset can all transfer to your life to make you a better person in the future. Again, crazy to think I was lying in bed fearful of whether I could work again, whether I could be a husband, whether I could be a father, whether I could be a useful member of society. I am now telling you this today, starting this channel being more active in, in my family's life and being a— trying to be the best person I could possibly be every day. I would not change having post-concussion syndrome twice for the world because it changed me for the better. Now, it took time. That resilience had to be built, and it took time. But I truly feel that the things that I learned, the lessons that were gleaned from that Carry forward into my life, and I'm a better, more resilient person today. And you can be too. These lessons that I have learned eight years later, okay? A lot of those things are actually inside my PCS Resilience Collective. And if you're looking to join, the waitlist is below. I'm going to open up the program in a few months, and I want to make sure that any and everyone, okay, who wants to join, who wants to be the advocates in their life, who who want to be the change agents, 'cause you know you can, to join, okay? I appreciate you watching to the end. If you would like and subscribe, that would be fantastic. It helps promote this channel to get this information out to more people like yourself. Because more than anything, I truly believe this is my life's work now, is that I need— people need to understand you can change your position in life. It is not your fault, but it is now your responsibility. Thank you and have yourself a great day.
