With every sport there comes a chance of success and a chance to fail. To everyone failure is different. To me, losing the ability to dance, to walk, to jump, to do normal functions is failure. I’ve been dancing since I was ten years old, and dance became my every passion. My dream was to dance in the Disney parades. Recently those dreams have disappeared because of a silly injury.
Dance is beautiful, not only is it a sport, but its an art. It takes dedication and hours of practice to get one move right. It takes courage to put your heart on the line and perform in front of a group of strangers with a big smile on your face.
In March, I did a move I had done before, that I had done countless times but landed the wrong way. Months of hobbling, and struggling to do simple every day activities lead me to a doctors office, and then an MRI was issued. With the MRI in hand and heart in my throat I went to a Orthopedic doctor expecting the worst.
I left with a diagnosis I had little understanding of and giant knee brace that made it impossible to walk without limping. Weeks of rest were prescribed, dreams of an active summer were taken away in a flash.
After weeks of wearing a brace, weeks of getting frustrated, weeks of feeling incapable I was prescribed another six to eight weeks of physical therapy. After three months of nothing, another six to eight weeks felt like nothing.
I went into physical therapy again expecting the worst after hearing numerous horror stories, and after an hour session the little pain I felt when walking in had intensified. Two weeks later I was using gym equipment again. I went from not being able to climb the stairs without complaint to doing multiple sets of leg presses.
In the two weeks I’ve experienced physical therapy I have watched people walk into this tiny room who can hardly walk and every day they walk another step, I see them pushing for success. I see growth in myself, I see that in reality there is no failure, only obstacles.
Obstacles are placed to push people to new limits. They are placed to make you achieve greatness in the face of darkness. Being in physical therapy has shown me there are lots of other people fighting the same battle. It encourages me to push harder, so one day I may dance again with a big smile on my face in front of a crowd of strangers.