Sometimes people ask me:
“Julian, I’ve been following you for some time now… can you take me back to how you got through the early days of your recovery?”
The short answer?
I didn’t really “get through” it.
The longer answer is… I had no other choice. I had to.
Back then, there wasn’t much guidance around stroke recovery outside of the hospital system. There wasn’t really anything online. No recovery communities. No social media pages talking openly about recovery. No monthly support calls. Very few people sharing their lived experience.
A lot of it felt like taking stabs in the dark.
My family and I tried many different things hoping something would help. Some things worked. Some things didn’t. Recovery became a process of trial, error, persistence, frustration, and continuing anyway.
I think that’s one of the hardest parts people don’t always see — in the beginning, you are often trying to rebuild your life while also trying to understand what recovery even looks like.
These days, things are different.
There are recovery groups. Online communities. Stroke survivors sharing their experiences openly. More conversations around mental health, identity, fatigue, overwhelm, and the realities of long-term recovery.
And honestly, I think that matters more than people realise.
Sometimes the most powerful thing in recovery is simply hearing:
“Me too.”
That’s a big part of why I share my own experiences today. Not because I have all the answers, but because I know what it feels like to search for guidance and not find much at all.
Recovery can still feel messy and uncertain at times… but nobody should feel like they have to do it completely alone anymore.
— Julian Reddish
Julian Reddish Counselling
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