All About YOU!

                                                                      FAILING TO FAIL!

Joseph Brann

I’d personally rather do things for other people than for myself. I realize my memoir, my speeches, and my blog are all about me but really, it’s all about YOU! I want to help you from my experiences and with the abilities I’ve been given. So even though I have to talk about myself and my situation a lot, please know it really is all for YOU! When I can help others, that’s what really matters to me. I won’t talk about spiritual things very much and my situation pertaining to such is so complex and confusing I don’t even want to almost start to bother you with it. But I do believe, when I survived being reported braindead and coming back to an impossible reality, I was asked to do so while on the other side, and it really was for others, which means it was definitely for YOU!

Now I’ve had times when I doubt all of my spiritual beliefs and everything pertaining to such but I end up having to rely on my faith, which sometimes I have little to none of, to help me keep believing in my reasons to continue to deal with what I have to. Many people have told me hearing about my life, my death, and all of this stuff has helped them and that’s FREAKIN’ AWESOME!!! I want to live for other people, I want to help other people keep going, I want to help others be happy. And when you aren’t happy, I want to help you come back to happy! Of course we have to take care of ourselves in our lives to continue to exist, but when I feel my life is benefiting others, is when I’m happiest! What about you? How do you feel when you’re serving and helping others and when are you happiest? Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL!

Love Being Lonely?

                                                                     FAILING TO FAIL!

Joseph Brann

 How do you love being lonely? The truth is, I'm not quite sure! I've hated the loneliness I've felt over the last almost 20 years. During this time, I remember, when I had a girlfriend, I've had two since my wreck, or was dating someone and thought she really cared for me and even believed I loved her, all of the challenges I face didn't really seem to matter. I could be in unbelievable pain and dealing with all of my obstacles which left me beyond exhausted and I'd think, "But it doesn't matter, I'm in love with a beautiful woman who loves me too!" And it really didn't matter, I felt great. I wasn't seeing my obstacles as opportunities then.
          I love the idea of being in love. So when the loneliness makes me cry, and it has several times, yeah I know I'm a big ol' baby, ha, I can remember I believe I'll be in love one day and all of this loneliness will make me appreciate that day, and that woman, more than I can even put into words and/or truly imagine. Sometimes looking toward the future with hope and concentrating on the strength I gain from the loneliness I feel now, is how I can love being lonely. I may not exactly love the loneliness, but I love who I am becoming because of it. What do YOU think? How can YOU love being lonely if indeed YOU are? Keep your head up and look forward to the future while enjoying the now, YOU're incredible! Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL!
             

Better Choices Better Chances!

FAILING TO FAIL!

Joseph Brann

The catch phrase to the speeches I give is "Better Choices Better Chances!" I talk about how the day of my accident I made a seemingly unimportant choice which greatly increased the chances of me having the accident I did. Furthermore, I discuss how we can work to make better choices in our lives to give us better chances at accomplishing goals and finding the success we desire. Currently I am still in the pursuit of the success I desire and I've got NO interest in not accomplishing my intended success. But accomplishing my goals of success really will come down to the choices I make each and every day! This is the same for everyone, including YOU!

          What choices can you make on a daily basis to increase the chances of finding the happiness and success you desire in your life? What choices will help you remain on the path to accomplishing said desires? On a rainy day December 10, 1998, my decision to get on the expressway when I usually would've stayed on the access road was the choice which greatly increased the chances of my accident happening which ultimately destroyed the life I was pursuing and working so hard for. You never know how a choice, big or small, can change your life or anyone else's. I talk in great detail about 113 obstacles, which are actually opportunities, I've faced over the last nearly 20 years in my memoir, which can be found on amazon.com by clicking the link bit.ly/tcsom but now I want to help everyone, especially YOU, increase the chances of finding happiness and success in your life! PLEASE think about how your choices impact your chances in your life? Stay positive and always remember, "Better Choices Better Chances" Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL!

Smile Anyway!

                                                                      FAILING TO FAIL!

Joseph Brann

I don't have much time to blog today but I just wanted to say something real quick about the importance of a smile! When I feel like garbage and don't really feel I have any reason to smile, I like to make myself smile anyway. It has surprised me how much better I feel if I just get in a quick smile. It helps me to remember to come back to happy. So if you're having a horrible day, a bad day, a good day, or a phenomenal day, smile anyway! Test it out and see how it changes your day! Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL!

Come Back to Happy!

    

                                                                                             FAILING TO FAIL!

Joseph Brann

I've NO IDEA how to always be happy. I don't believe anything is impossible and I know happiness is a choice but it's extremely difficult to ALWAYS be happy. One thing I like to say is, "I'm not ALWAYS happy but I ALWAYS come back to happy!" There's so much going on in this world and so many challenges, pains, disappointments, and so forth that it's not always easy to find the good in life. It's not always easy to find the reasons to be happy. but just because it's difficult doesn't mean you quit trying. When I get down and frustrated, depressed, wanting to give up, I have to tell myself that I know these feelings will pass and I will get back to happy.

Thing is, these feelings ONLY pass and I, or more importantly, YOU, only get back to happy if we decide to. You don't have to ALWAYS be happy, but it truly is your choice. Situations are not always under our control, but how we respond is up to us. So I just remind myself, when I'm not happy, that I need to not make any decisions that are going to cause major problems or issues I'll wish I hadn't made. What do YOU think? How can you come back to happy? How can you find the good when it doesn't seem to exist? When you find the good in spite of the bad, you've just JOEtivated yourself to make your life spectacular! Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL!

MY Opportunities

FAILING TO FAIL!

Joseph Bra

I went to lunch with a good friend today and she asked me how my obstacles are an opportunity for me, outside of being an opportunity for me to help others. I'll admit I didn't have a real answer to that question. I always say my obstacles are opportunities for me to help others but I don't really think too much about how they are opportunities for me to help myself in my life. As I've thought about this question, I don't actually have a great answer to it because it's much easier for me to view my situation from the perspective of how can I help others instead of how can I help myself.

     The best answer I have to this question isn't really one I love but it is an honest answer. My obstacles are opportunities for me to continue to grow, which isn't great because growth takes a long time and I'm one of those people with little patience who wants things done quickly. So I guess my obstacles are opportunities for me to continue to endure and push myself to be stronger than I'd EVER really want to be. So I guess I'll have to let this be my answer for the time being. Life's tough, for EVERYONE, but it's up to each one of us, that means YOU, to keep going and find the good when it seems near nonexistent! Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL!

Crazy Day, Gotta Keep Going!

     Today's been a crazy day, dealing with a whole bunch of shifting emotions, which is actually nothing new for me. What about YOU? I wonder how many people deal with this same issue and I have to believe it's probably quite a few. My brain often bounces around, I'll be feeling great one moment and literally within seconds I can become deeply depressed! Daily the idea comes into my mind to just give up, stop trying to accomplish what I really want. However, I keep going because that's just the way I am and what I feel we all need to do. It's true that I often have to keep myself JOEtivated, I have to tell myself there's reasons for me to keep going, and of course there are!
     My family and friends help me a lot with this stuff. I know it can be exhausting dealing with a brain damaged individual, I deal with one NONSTOP, ha! So I'm extra grateful for everyone who helps me. Whatever we're facing, the important thing is that we all keep going. If I want to help others, and I really, REALLY do, I've got to live the words I speak! I'm so grateful for my family and friends who keep helping me find the value in being Joseph Brann! My hope for YOU, and for everyone, is that you've got people to help you keep going just like I've got in my life. If nothing else, I'm here for you so if necessary, post a comment to my blog and let me know how I can help you keep enduring. The one thing I know better than I'd ever really want to, is how to keep enduring! Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL!

The Competition of Life!

FAILING TO FAIL!

Joseph Brann

     Life is NOT a competition between you and me or anyone else. I’ve encountered people who seem to think it is. However, I don’t believe you will develop into your best YOU if you’re trying to be better than someone else or compete against someone else. I feel the ONLY person your should try to be better than is the person you were the day before. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t do better today than you did yesterday, but keep trying to improve.

     Too many people are too hard on themselves, I know, I’m one of those people but judging yourself based on trying to be better than someone else will accomplish NOTHING. Too many people want to do better than another person, but they’d probably be a lot better off if they just competed against themselves. Hypothetically, let’s say you set a goal today that you’re going to make more money than Joe Brann makes today. At the end of the day, Joe Brann, what an awesome person I know, lol, makes $100,000, remember this is hypothetical. So you do EVERYTHING you can to make more money than him. At the end of the day, you’ve accomplished your goal and’ve made $100,001, YAY YOU!

  Now, so what? If you’d been concentrating on doing the best you could do and not on beating Joe Brann, you probably could’ve made $1,000,000 today. So I just want to remind you that YOU are good enough the way YOU are but should still keep working to improve yourself and don’t worry about being better than anyone else except the you you were the day before! KEEP GOING, YOU CAN DO IT!!! Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL! 

Don't Give Up!

         Life will try to beat you down until it can't anymore, then it will try to beat you some more! YOU, however, can overcome the beatings life throws your way so DON'T GIVE UP! I lived in a hell I was BEYOND TERRIFIED to live in for over 14 years, but, even though sometimes it tries to come back, I overcame it and will continue to do so everyday! Overcoming it was actually quite simple and you can overcome any fears you face the same way I overcame my nightmare!

All you have to do is decide, make the decision, that you're no longer going to be kept under the control of your fear and the negativity in life! Then you have to KEEP GOING! So I decided to love the nightmare of a life I face. I'll admit, I don't always love the challenges, but when they get me down, really down, I just have to decide to love the difficulties and find the good in them, then I truly do love them! YOU can love your life no matter what, will you? Not too long ago my loneliness, which has by far been the most difficult thing for me to face, from not having a girlfriend since I believe the year 2002 was really getting me down as was the excruciating physical pain I'm in almost nonstop.

So I asked myself, "Joe, you talk about seeing your obstacles as opportunities, how are you going to see these obstacles as opportunities?" I then realized, I can use my loneliness to comfort others I know or meet who deal with this same issue and when I finally do have another girlfriend it'll help me always remember how special she really is and I'll make sure she knows it! I can look at the physical pain and know it's severity will lesson, it always does, and I won't be stopped by it. I can use my experiences with these pains to connect with people who also feel pain, so basically EVERYONE, and can help them realize they're not alone and are strong enough to get through it! 

How can you see your obstacles as opportunities? How can you find the positives in the negativity you face? I guarantee there's an opportunity in every obstacle, but YOU have to find it and you can, WILL YOU? So DON'T GIVE UP and see your obstacles as opportunities! My memoir can help you tremendously with all of this and as always I'll post the link at the end of this blog, but I believe in YOU! Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL!

The Opportunity of Obstacles!

FAILING TO FAIL!

Joseph Brann

Today, to try and help you, I’ll talk about a few of the 113 brain damaged challenges I’ve faced and work to overcome since my wreck, but please don’t feel sorry for me. Remember, these obstacles are my opportunity to hopefully help you realize you can be positive no matter what you face, even though you might not always feel positive. Also, I hope you’ll learn from my accident, and not from having one yourself, that you need to be careful so you don’t end up like me, or worse, facing more challenges than you’d ever want to, so PLEASE be careful!

Due to a stroke, the peripheral vision I had in my right eye is completely gone and some vision in my left eye is gone too so I have “tunnel vision” and I don’t drive. I have a condition called prosopagnosia, yep that’s A BIG word from someone with brain damage! Prosopagnosia’s also known as “face blindness” and means I can’t recognize faces, so I usually recognize people by their voices. Miraculously I’ve been able to recognize more faces but once I saw a picture of myself and thought it was my brother-in-law who looks NOTHING like me, he’s NOWHERE near as attractive as I am! Just kidding, he’s a good looking guy, but we look NOTHING alike. I don’t recognize the face in the mirror LITERALLY! That’s just crazy!

I’m in pain almost NONSTOP all over my entire body but it’s the worst in the most sensitive places, such as my eyes. The last of my trials I’ll speak specifically about today is going to be depression. I battle depression just about daily for multiple reasons. First of all, in a split second I lost my entire life and everything I’d worked so hard for in my first 17 years of being alive. I’ve been told the part of my brain controlling depression has been damaged so I technically "should be" depressed. Sometimes I get depressed, sometimes severely depressed, but I still decide to fight it. People usually have NO IDEA I’m fighting depression because I don’t want it to be known. I overcome depression by pushing on, even when I feel like I’m just a brain damaged freak, I know I’m much more than that. I hope you know how incredible you truly are. If you’re facing depression, I’m sorry but KEEP going and you will overcome it!

As I’ve said, all of my obstacles are opportunities to hopefully help you. So THANK YOU for helping me find the positive in spite of the negative. Though I’ve spent many years afraid to wake up to my reality, you’ve helped me to find the good in and even love my situation, thanks again. If you want good in life, BE THE GOOD IN LIFE! If you want to be happy, BE HAPPY! It’s your decision. Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL!

The choice is yours!

FAILING TO FAIL!

Joseph Brann

Similar to most things in life, failure is often a choice, but happiness is always a choice. Seeing obstacles as opportunities is definitely your choice. It’s often difficult to deal with our obsta…I mean opportunities. You might not always view your obstacles as opportunities because, let’s face it, sometimes obstacles are, well, obstacles! But when I choose to view my obstacles as opportunities, I give myself hope for a better future. You too can do this! A while back when working on a project I was undertaking I needed to make a list of the difficulties I’ve faced since my accident. I was baffled when realizing the list actually contains 113 things which’ve been more difficult, that’s ONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN new challenges, that’s insane! There are even more things not listed.

Each of my obstacles is an opportunity though because it’s because of those things that I’ve had the opportunity to help others. You need to know it’s possible to be positive no matter what you face. It’s okay to not ALWAYS be positive, but it’s not okay to ALWAYS be negative. You can disagree with me on this if you wish, YOU’RE WRONG, ha, but that’s okay too. Though it’s difficult at times, choosing to view things positively will definitely help you keep going. 

I truly believe had I not been in my car accident I would’ve made it to the NFL and would’ve been extremely successful as a professional quarterback, but life doesn’t always go the way we want it to. Several people have told me positive things they’ve gotten from learning about my story, so those are just a few positives which’ve come from my negative situation. I’m sure there’re things in your life which haven’t worked out as desired but it’s up to you to view those negative experiences positively. When you view your life positively no matter the challenge, it makes it a lot easier to enjoy life and will help you have the strength to keep going.

Periodically, in order for me to be positive in my situation, I find it necessary not to think about the things I face. I don’t pretend they don’t exist because the reality is, they do exist. Sometimes the only way to overcome a challenge is to continue to live with it but not to let it stop or discourage you. I, truthfully, don’t want to face what I have to each day, but I can so I will and I will ALWAYS come back to happy, I suggest you do the same. I’ll talk some about the things I face in order to try and help you, in my future writing. Please know you can succeed but in order to, you must NEVER give up! Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL!

Life's Tough but YOU can succeed!

FAILING TO FAIL!

Joseph Brann

I feel life’s tough for everyone; however, I don’t believe we ever truly fail unless we quit. Like me, you have probably had times when life’s obstacles forced you to want to give up. Its okay, we all get that feeling at times. My suggestion though is that we try to view our obstacles as opportunities.  For myself, my biggest “opportunity” and most unimaginably difficult life struggles began in 1998 as a senior in high school on the very same day division one colleges began recruiting me to play quarterback. On this life-altering day I was in a horrible car accident that left me reported braindead on the news, yep, that’s right, BRAINDEAD! My survival, and everything I continue doing daily, should’ve been impossible.  Although I would’ve never imagined my life being as difficult for me as it is, I’ll never say my life is harder than anyone else’s.  

           When I first came back from my wreck, I had absolutely no idea who I was or anything I’d been through, my life memories had just vanished! Over 19 years since my accident, I’m still trying to “come back” and accomplish what I was told was impossible. Some people might tell you, “You can’t do it” or “That’s impossible.” Some people ARE WRONG! Accomplish what you want. I’m actually partially blind and a brain doctor once said because of my brain damage I shouldn’t be able to read. However, I obviously can read and even write. I’m proud to announce that in May 2018 I, through amazon.com, published my very own, unedited, memoir titled The Challenging Side of Miracles! My living nightmare from having been reported braindead! 

          I won’t lie and say that I’m always happy, most days I’ve hated the position I am in. But it is truly just a mindset. I always come back to happy because I BELIEVE that one-day, one day I’ll end up where I’m supposed to be. Right now I’m in the process of getting back to public speaking and my famous catch phrase “Better Choices Better Chances!” I work everyday to try and be a better me than the day before. I don’t always accomplish this goal, but I refuse to stop pursuing it. There’re things I’m excited to keep working to accomplish and I refuse to be stopped, so stay tuned. In my opinion if you try to be a good person and die in pursuit of your dreams and/or goals, you are a success and will always be such. No matter what you face, DON’T GIVE UP! Go ahead and refuse to fail. I might not have succeeded as I desire yet, but I know I will eventually! Until reading my next blog and even after, remember keep FAILING TO FAIL!

bit.ly/tcsom