In this video, concussion survivor David Brimacombe shares how post‑concussion syndrome (PCS) stripped him of joy, purpose, and identity after seven concussions over two decades. He explains that PCS creates a paradox where the brain demands more energy while its capacity to produce it is reduced, leading to a survival‑only mindset. He also describes how PCS mentally “shrinks” a person’s world, using a hat‑rack metaphor and the feeling of being mentally incarcerated. To counter this, Brimacombe offers a concise three‑step protocol: (1) conduct a life audit to identify the few activities that provide the most joy and are worth the limited energy; (2) re‑introduce those activities in the smallest possible doses, starting with ridiculously simple actions (e.g., placing shoes by a mirror as a cue to walk); and (3) pair each action with a positive emotional cue—high‑five, gratitude note, or celebratory shout—to reinforce the new behavior. He also references a 10‑minute “belief reset” audio designed to shift negative narratives, and invites viewers to join his PCS Resilience Collective for deeper support. The overall message is that even with reduced capacity, one can gradually reclaim joy by deliberately choosing, tiny‑stepping, and emotionally anchoring valued activities.
Chapters
I don't enjoy life anymore. PCS has changed who I am. One of the strangest feelings I had during my PCS recovery wasn't a symptom. It was an apathy for the person I was. See, before my concussions, I had hopes, dreams, aspirations. But after? Nothing. Hi, my name is David Brimacombe, and after 7 concussions over a 20-year span. I came to understand that as PCS was shrinking the world around me, in order to get my life back, I needed to introduce small doses of living again. I think of life circumstances as a dimmer switch. So an example would be today. It is 3 degrees. It is 7 AM. I just dropped my daughter off at volleyball. Now, in a perfect world, I would like to be recording in a studio, having the time to prepare, but life does not work like that. Here's the thing, I am not turning off my desire and my ability to produce videos to serve the person I used to be. I'm gonna continue to do that, but I'm turning that dial down. I'm not turning the switch off, but I'm turning it down in this moment because in this phase of my life, I There are other things going on in your recovery. I want to talk about how you can't turn off everything that you used to love. You need to keep doing what you love doing. And even though you have a decreased capacity, a decreased energy load, you can still introduce small doses. In this video, I want to break down why you feel the way you do, why the things that you used to love feel flat now. And a simple 3-step process to get it back, to get you living on your terms again. Let's begin. Let's start with the why. Why do you feel like this? Now, the brain consumes 20% of the body's energy but only takes up 2% of the body's weight. When you are in a post-concussion state, it actually makes it harder. Your brain has an increased desire for energy but a decreased ability to produce it. So you have this paradoxical situation where you need more energy but can't produce enough. You feel groggy, you feel tired, you feel like you can only do the things you need to do— to eat, to sleep, to breathe. Those great desires you have, those joys that you have in your life are gone because in this world you have a narrow focus— to get up, to eat, to breathe, to simply survive, not to thrive. Okay, the second reason why you might feel like this is that PCS shrinks the world. I think about it this way: before my concussions, I had a hat rack in my front entrance. I'd come home from work, take off my work hat, put on my family hat. I'd take off my family hat, go put on my athletic hat, and go pursue those hobbies. After a concussion, I was always wearing the same hat, the old raggy PCS hat. Everything revolved around my concussion state. Everything revolved around my symptoms. It was such a narrow focus. It was— I've never been to jail, let me preface this. It felt like I was incarcerated, and my constraints weren't physical constraints. I wasn't behind bars, but I was in a mental stranglehold. I could not get out of the state that I was in. I was in this mental pretzel where I was constantly thinking about my symptoms, my state, my lack of potential future. And I just sat there. I languished in this misery. And this misery started to prolong and prolong and prolong, and it became all I thought about. I no longer had those desires, those wishes. I had a narrow focus: get up, eat, drink, and move on to the next day. If you lack the belief that you can actually change that state, I want to let you borrow some of mine. Below is a link to the belief reset. In the belief reset, it's going to provide you that narrative that's going to help shift you from that state that you are in to the state that you want to be. It's a 10-minute audio. Links below. I want to give you a simple 3-step protocol that It's going to help introduce those things that you love back into your life. I'm going to keep this as simple as possible. Again, I understand the limited capacity, the limited energy, so I'm going to keep this really high level, really simple. First thing you need to do is you need to do a life audit. You need to determine what is really worth the energy that you have. Now, this might sound strange, but this is a turning point not only in your recovery but in your life. The things that you create, the mindset that you develop, is going to carry you forward for the rest of your life. See, we grow as humans in the tough times, not in the easy times. I am a better person today than I was prior to my first concussion because it took me the realization that in those darkest days that I needed to shift who I was. I needed to become a better human. And those things I did during my recovery have actually Carried forward in the rest of my life. So you need to figure out what are the activities that I want to do the most that are going to elicit the most joy, elicit the most excitement in me. Because if you have joy in your life, if you have gratitude for being able to do something, it lowers your stress, it gives you hope for the future. Okay, that is very, very important. So I want you to think about what are the activities What are the environments that are actually helping me recover, not keeping me stuck? So what are they? Go through the top of the hierarchy, whatever that top environment, top activity is, I want you to focus on that first. And the second step is to keep it simple. I want you to reintroduce that part of your life back again in the smallest dose possible. So I want you to start ridiculously small. For me, it was always about movement. Hey, I'm a kinesthetic body. I love moving. I love being active. I love that feeling of that blood flow through your body. At first, I could not even get up and down the stairs. So the thought of actually going for a walk or lifting weights or playing a sport was out of the realm of possible. So what I did first, again, starting ridiculously small, is I put shoes out in front of my mirror. So it would remind me every day that I walk by there, maybe I'd put the shoes on one day, maybe I just see them, that I'm slowly starting to shift that identity. I'm slowly starting to reintroduce the things that my body thinks is causing me harm. The body is keeping me stuck, but in, in reality, I'm showing it that it can keep me safe. It can actually help me. So my first step is just to put those shoes out. Maybe next week I'm going to go for a walk to the mailbox and back. You see how I'm slowly adding back in, but it's because it's that one activity, that one environment that I know is going to carry the most weight. It's going to elicit the most joy and most excitement in me. It's about starting ridiculously small. And the third step— this is something that most people miss— is you need to elicit an emotion with that action. So memories come From positive and negative emotions. So when you can elicit a positive response— I put out those shoes, maybe one day I put them on, I walk down the stairs, I walk down the hall— I'm going to give myself a high five in the mirror. I'm going to give a big fist bump. I'm going to yell. I'm going to write down a gratitude note and put it on my sticky. I'm grateful for being able to walk down the hall and back. It is simple. It is ridiculously simple. But it is the starting phase. It is not about doing everything. It's not about being that person you used to be. You are reintroducing the things that are creating that structure, creating that environment for your recovery. You can do it. I believe in you. And again, if you don't have that belief in yourself yet, the belief reset is going to help you. I hope you found value in this video. That is the goal of producing these videos. You are a change agent in your recovery. You are the person who can have the greatest impact on where you're going in your life. If you want to learn more about my program, the PCS Resilience Collective, down below. I appreciate you, your time, your energy, for sticking to the end. I hope you have yourself a fantastic day, and don't forget to start ridiculously small, but start today. Find out what's going to create that catapult for your recovery. We'll see you soon.
