“I learned the process of resilience because I stuck to the goal of recovery versus trying to fall into the trap of ignoring it and pushing through. The more you practice being resilient, like learning to trust yourself or your intuition, the easier it gets.”
I sustained three concussions over six years, each injury separated by two years and I never really properly recovered from each one. During that time, the information and research about concussions weren’t as prominent as it is today. I remember feeling lost.
The second concussion I got was a major one and my main symptoms were extreme fatigue, depression and trouble with emotional regulation. When I sustained the third concussion, I started getting more typical concussion symptoms and started realizing what I was experiencing. I’m a physiotherapist and I took some concussion courses because they were becoming more popular. Also, living in Whistler, a prominent sports area where there is a higher concussion rate, I wanted to be educated. During the courses, I started to realize a concussion is what I was actually struggling with.
I knew I wanted to get better and because I was so severely injured, I couldn’t work anymore. I couldn’t really socialize anymore. I couldn’t participate in any type of activity. Part of what I was struggling with was perfectionism because of my Type-A personality.
I would normally just push through an injury and expect that at some point I would get better but part of what I learned was I had to fight that old belief pattern. I had to start trusting myself and knowing that I had to stick to my guns, even though it was really hard, especially in Whistler where it’s financially hard if you are not working.
I learned the process of resilience because I stuck to the goal of recovery versus trying to fall into the trap of ignoring it and pushing through.
I also learned to not be afraid of being alone. I had to sit and be with myself a lot and that’s the hard part with concussions. Because I was injured, I couldn’t be active so I had to be with myself and learn that process of trusting myself and being okay with it.
In the end, I learned to like myself more than I did prior to having this injury and so ultimately, the work is worth it. It’s a tough road. It is hard at times (and harder at others) but it gets easier as you go and as you build your resilience. It’s like building muscle if you have a physical injury. The more you practice being resilient, like learning to trust yourself or your intuition, the easier it gets. For me, that’s what it was. So, just keep doing it day-by-day, week-by-week and it starts to become more natural and it’s worth it in the bigger picture.
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