Being the injured athlete is like being stabbed in the back by someone you love...and then being stabbed again once your wounds start to heal. And depending on how long you are injured, the stabbing may never stop.
I love my sport, so being stuck on the sideline while watching others live my dream is a psychological torture paired with physical pain.
Being an injured athlete follows the stages of grief. Just like with grief, the stages come and go, and don't follow always particular order. You go through the denial, anger and sadness, but you never go through the "acceptance" phase. Ever.
The hardest part is admitting that your injury is severe enough to pull yourself out of practicing. You'll do whatever you can to avoid it because once you admit it, you feel as if you've proved yourself as a weakness to your team.
At first, you joke around about it with your friends, but when the feeling of isolation starts to sink in as they begin to practice and compete without you, it's no longer a joking matter. You begin to feel in a state of isolation. The isolation gets so deep that there is no point and sitting and watching your team practice while you sit out because it hurts so much. They'll think you're pulling away, but they just don't understand. And how could they? You feel like you're in a different world when you're only a few feet away from your team.
You even start to think about how far behind you will be physically when you join your team again, and it pushes the pain to a deeper level. Knowing that you will continuously be playing catch up for the rest of the season can be devastating.
But somewhere in the swirls of isolation is where you find yourself. You may be injured, but your injury does not define you. Believe it or not, your sport doesn't even define you. You have to dig deep and find a love for yourself to make it through. And you will. Everything happens for a reason, and taking some time to find yourself may be exactly what you need. Keep your head up, athlete. You're becoming stronger than you know while you sit on the sideline
