If you’ve ever had an injury, you know they suck. Not being able to do the things you normally do, gimping around, and feeling like a baby is never an ideal situation to be in. Simply having an injury on it’s own can feel like the worst thing that could happen at that point in your life, but when you have a profession or are studying something that requires you to be active and physical, hurting can feel like your whole world is collapsing around you.
Dealing with an injury is far more defeating when you’re used to being physically active. Having to sit out of dance class because you tripped on some stairs and sprained your ankle is the worst. Even though there’s nothing you could do to prevent it, you feel disappointed and angry with yourself. Watching everyone else partake in activities you are itching to do is borderline torture. Having an injury in times of warm weather will take the cake, however. Your friends want you to come on a hike? Sure! Let me just bring my crutches. You want to go swim in the pool? Can’t get your cast wet. It often feels like you just get to watch everyone else have fun.
Eventually, time passes and you’ve healed. You can do all the things you couldn’t do when you were injured! WRONG. Now that your injury is recovered, you’re onto the rehabilitation process. Still babying your injury a bit, you often will have to go to physical therapy and work with someone to build your strength back so you can run around and be your old happy self. Rehabilitation is a really important aspect of recovery, because it helps prevent future injury. Re-injuring an injury you’ve already had is one of the most defeating and frustrating things I’ve experienced in my life.
Once you’ve healed from your injury, the simple joys of being able to return to your daily activities is amazing. Injuries can make you more appreciative of your body, and they teach you that since you only have one body in this life, you better take care of it. An injury is more than just physical pain, it takes a huge toll on your emotions as well as your physical body. Make sure you are aware of your daily habits and are taking care of yourself to avoid injury. And when you do get injured, take care of yourself so it hopefully doesn’t happen again!