u/Dry_Midnight_6742

After my brain injury, I started looking at clinical trials differently.

Things like:

Showing up at the same time
Following a protocol exactly
Tracking symptoms consistently

All reasonable.

Unless your brain doesn’t work that way anymore.

Fatigue changes day to day.
Cognitive load isn’t predictable.
Some days are fine. Some aren’t.

Even getting to the appointment can be a lot.

And then I remembered—

I used to work in the clinical trial space.

I understood how they were designed and what they were trying to do.

They’re built for control.

Consistency. Predictability.

Which makes sense.

But it also assumes the patient can show up the same way, every time.

So the question shifts.

It’s not just:
“Does the treatment work?”

It’s:
“Can the patient fit the trial?”

I didn’t see that gap as clearly before.

I do now.

I didn’t expect this, but my brain injury completely changed how I practice guitar.

Before, I practiced fast.

A few minutes on the new piece my guitar teacher assigned, then I’d play everything I already knew, then back to the new piece again.

I could jump around and it worked for me. Was it the best way to practice? Probably not. But it’s what I did.

Now I can’t do that at all.

Now it’s one piece—the one I’m working on with my teacher. Not the repertoire.

One passage. One phrase.

Stay with it until something shifts.

No multitasking. No bouncing around.

I’ve always been impatient.

I’m just no longer neurologically equipped to indulge it.

Weird side effect is… I think I might actually be getting better this way.