Accept, Adapt, Rebuild, Live, with Michael Foglietta

After a life changing injury, the question 'What do I do now?' can touch everything from income and family to identity and purpose. I share how I gradually tested my abilities after a brain injury, explored projects and interests, and built a life that fits me now. This is a personal conversation about finding possibilities without pretending the practical challenges are easy. Learn more or send me a question at mfoglietta.com.

What happens to your definition of success when disability changes the life you expected to have? In this episode, Michael Foglietta explores why success after brain injury or disability can look very different from the standards we used before.

From major rehabilitation milestones to remembering something, getting through a difficult day, or completing an ordinary task despite the physical cost, progress is personal.

The goal is not necessarily to recreate your old life. It may be to build a life that works with the person you are now.

In this episode of Accept, Adapt, Rebuild, Live, Michael Foglietta talks about the disconnect between looking recovered and actually living with the lasting effects of disability.

From needing the rest of the day to recover after an ordinary activity to leaving social events early and knowing which activities are no longer safe, much of disability happens where other people never see it.

The biggest misunderstanding may be sustainability: being able to do something once doesn’t mean you can do it every day.

Recovery isn’t about convincing other people that your limitations are real. It’s about learning your body, respecting your limits, adapting, and continuing to live.

What happens when physical healing reaches its limits, but life still has to move forward?

In this episode, Michael Foglietta explores how disability can completely change our definition of strength. Physical strength may be the version we recognize first, but after serious disability or trauma, mental and adaptive strength can become just as important.

Michael reflects on his own brain injury, relearning how to walk and talk, learning his body's limits, and the difficult shift from trying to return to his old life toward accepting, adapting, rebuilding, and living.

This episode asks a simple but important question: If strength is no longer measured only by what your body can do, how do you define it now?

Disability can take away your ability to work before you have time to prepare, but the rent, utilities, medical costs, and family responsibilities keep coming. Michael shares the financial reality that followed his brain injury, including the support he was fortunate to have, the long process of applying for disability benefits, and the emotional difficulty of asking for help. He also offers a manageable first step: contact one creditor, utility company, agency, or support person at a time.

This episode mentions Arizona DES, AHCCCS, 211 Arizona, Centers for Independent Living, short- and long-term disability, and Social Security disability benefits.

Disclaimer: Michael is not a doctor, therapist, attorney, or financial adviser. His expertise is in lived experience. Verify program rules and eligibility with the appropriate agency.

A life-changing event can take away more than routines, abilities, or a career. It can also take away the future you thought you were building.
In this episode, Michael Foglietta reflects on the grief of losing—or postponing—the plans that once gave life direction. Drawing from his experience with brain injury and disability, he explores the difference between a dream that is truly gone and one that may still be possible through a different path.
The journal prompt at the center of the episode asks: What traditions, routines, or future plans have you had to let go of—or postpone?
You do not have to decide in the first 90 days—or even the first year—that everything has been lost. Recovery takes time. Adaptation takes time. Sometimes the future is not over. It is simply on hold while you learn who you are now and what remains possible.
Learn more at https://www.mfoglietta.com
I am not a doctor or therapist; my expertise is in lived experience.

Disability is often mistaken for weakness. But survivinglife after brain injury, chronic illness, or sudden disability requires constant adaptation. In this episode, Michael Foglietta asks what “only the strong survive” really means—and why adaptability may matter more thanstrength.

“Only the strong survive” sounds simple—until disabilityforces us to ask what strength really means.

In Episode 11, Michael Foglietta challenges the idea thatsurvival belongs to the physically strongest. Drawing from life after a brainAVM and acquired disability, he explains why survival is less about brutestrength and more about adaptation: building processes for ordinary tasks,managing a limited cognitive battery, responding to changing symptoms, andcontinuing when the world does not adapt to you.

The disabled community is often perceived as weak. Inreality, disabled people practice one of humanity’s most important survivalskills every day: adjusting to circumstances they did not choose.

Learn more and contact Michael at https://www.mfoglietta.com.

Michael is not adoctor or therapist; his expertise is in lived experience.

Continuing our series on grief and adaptation, Michael Foglietta dives into Chapter 2 of the Adapting to Series: Writing a letter to your past self. Discover why warning your past self keeps you stuck, how to grant yourself complete immunity from blame, and practical operational strategies (like using a shopping cart to manage stamina) to rebuild agency after life-altering transitions.

What if the life you're grieving is your own? In this episode, Michael Foglietta dives into the silent weight of ambiguous loss after brain injury and sudden disability. Learn how to stop draining cognitive energy on past comparisons, adapt your environment for sustainability, and rebuild a meaningful life on this side of the starting line.

Need guidance and accountability on your rebuild journey? Book a 1:1 discovery call at https://www.mfoglietta.com.

#BrainInjury #AmbiguousLoss #AcceptAdaptRebuildLive #ChronicIllness #StrokeSurvivor

Michael Foglietta joins Joey Calvo on Life with Joey Calvo to share his lived experience navigating life after a ruptured brain AVM in 2003. Michael details his Navy submarine service, his determination to graduate magna cum laude from the University of Arizona, managing cognitive burnout, and how the accept, adapt, rebuild, live protocol fosters long-term growth and healing.