I have tried to convey these concepts many times. Researchers find three issues that are related to slow recovery.

1. People who are overly focused on every possibility whether it is due to anxiety or perfectionism tend to have prolonged recoveries.

2. People who had a tendency to be anxious or struggle with depression prior to the concussion have a very high likelihood of a prolonged and miserable recovery. They find they can actually predict this long recovery when the patient has pre-existing anxiety.

3. Highly intelligent people want to understand every little nuance so they may over emphasize symptoms that they ignored prior to their current concussion. Now, since they have a concussion history, they decide every symptom is severe brain damage. They also notice very minor decreases in mental function. The need to focus to overcome distractions is seen as a major dysfunction. These thoughts release stress chemicals that make recovery slow and worse.

Many symptoms of concussion are also just symptoms of a busy and active life. When we just move forward without a negative focus on those symptom as being concussion related, life returns to something that resembles a normal life.

I have learned to laugh at many situations. It not only makes PCS more tolerable but it makes life more pleasant.

For example, I play ping pong at the Y. Those I play with get all stressed out when they muff a shot. This stress reduces their level of play. I just laugh about these muffed shots. When a slow ball is missed that should have been hit and returned, the joke is "At least you waved at the ball as it went by."

I have sayings like:

Brain farts: Wow, that stinks and I can't believe it came out of me. This is when the wrong word comes out or after similar speaking mess ups.
When I get stuck trying to speak and I mumble, I have a saying, My tongue gets caught around my eye tooth and I can see what I am saying.

By having ways to laugh and lighten the stress of various struggles, we can get on with our lives.

Knowing how to reduce the impact of cobble stone roads can also help. Even if they are not damaging, they are still annoying, even to people who have not suffered a concussion. Leaning forward away from the seat back can help.