As an athlete, you tend to take some things for granted, running up and down the court without pain and with ease. Walking up and down stairs normally, stretching your arms above your head or performing a simple task such as sneezing without your abs feeling like they might rip through your skin. Being an athlete is something that you don’t blink an eye at considering yourself as, but something that comes with the territory that has added effects are injuries.
I unfortunately have had my fair share of hospital trips, orthopedic doctor visits, and physical therapy sessions in my athletic career. I think that you could credit my rough and tumble style of play to my many injuries. In college alone, I broke my nose, tore ligaments in my ankle, broke my foot, had shin splints so bad in one leg I could barely walk and was walking boot bound and, lastly, a partially torn oblique muscle to just name a few of the major ones. I like to think that I have a high pain tolerance, but the pain was never what drove me crazy the most; it was the mental aspect. In my mind, there was nothing worse than sitting out a game or practice. Having to see your family, your teammates run sprints, lose games or struggle while not being able to contribute in anyway more than that “go team go” you can muster up on the sidelines.
The injury, to me, isn’t the worst part, the sitting out is. The endless days of physical therapy sessions, and the never ending string of "no you can’t go back to practice yet" wear a person down after awhile and make you think whether or not you're cut out to be an athlete anymore. The questions like, “Is this worth it?” “Will my injury ever heal?” "Do I remember what its like to wake up and not take Advil or Tylenol?” all seem to be on repeat in your mind. Getting through your injury stronger than ever is almost entirely a mental process. Sure, those physical therapy sessions have a little to do with it, but getting your mind right helps you to endure those grueling sessions that leave you sweaty, partially in tears and thinking you will never get better. However, something that you tend to overlook is the fact that you will comeback stronger, better and mentally raring to go.
Sitting on the sideline is never easy; it's never fun being physically taken out of a sport that you love, but in the end, as long as you commit 100 percent to getting back healthy, you will be back better than ever in due time. Nothing in life is ever handed to you, and recovery isn’t something that is going to be given to an athlete easily. Like everything in life, recovery is not just handed to you, those ligaments don’t just strengthen on their own, muscles don’t piece together without the exercises that are given to you and those broken bones don’t bond together without rest, boots or casts and diligence to the program you are given.
During the time of an injury, trust the professionals — they might know a thing or two of what they are doing — commit to coming back from the injury better than ever, but, most importantly, cherish the time you have being an athlete. Your athletic career has a shelf life, an expiration date, there will be a day when you don’t get to play the sport you love more than anything, so cherish everything about it — that includes those pesky injuries. No one knows their expiration date, so enjoy every practice, game and therapy session. You will get better, and you will overcome.
