Before you do anything, you need to STOP and THINK!
Taking time to STOP and THINK will help you to understand how negative thoughts and feelings are making it difficult to solve your problems and achieve your aims.
When you experience strong negative emotions, like anger, frustration, embarrassment, or sadness, that is a signal that you have a problem. It is important for you to STOP and THINK. If you follow and act on your negative emotions, you will likely not pick the best solution to the problem.
Animals under stress have an instinct to fight or flee. Human beings have a third choice. They can fight, flee, or THINK!
Your Filter
Sometimes after a TBI, people say what they’re thinking or feeling without considering how it might affect other people. The way they filter information has changed.
Think about a strainer that is used to rinse food. The holes allow some things to pass through but keep other things inside. This is how our internal filters work, some thoughts pass through the holes and we say them out loud. Other thoughts do not and we keep them inside. After a TBI, it is like the holes in your filter become bigger.
STOP and THINK gives you a chance to check your filter and make a choice about what you say and do.
Many teens find it helpful to picture the stop sign in their mind and say to themselves, “I need to STOP and THINK.”