Coping with Injury

The physical side of coping with injury is easy, right? You can’t physically do it, so that’s that... yes? No!

After my recent head injury, it wasn’t the lack of training that was worrying me, after all, I couldn’t even stand up, let alone swim, bike or run. It was the games that my mind was playing with me that was the issue.

How did I cope with the mental strain of injury?

·        Write down regularly, the small improvements that you are noticing in yourself each day. I did it in blog format, and it really helped me recognise how bad I was at the start, and how far I have come each week.

·        Be grateful for every day that you have, every day that you have the choice to do whatever you want to do. After all you are only injured. This is temporary, and you will get better. My head injury made me realise how lucky I was to be alive. I can cope with the injury knowing that it could have been worse, I could have been in intensive care, or even dead.

·        Life is FAR too short to be sad. Although I recognised that I was ALLOWED to be sad, upset, frustrated, and all those other things, those feelings will not get me better, or help me progress. They are simply limiting me. There is no time in this life for self pity. There is some ‘getting well’ to be done!

·        Don't take training for granted you never know when it may be taken away from you. It is frustrating to think that whilst I have been recovering I have lost some of my fitness, and I have now extra work to be done, but so be it. I have done it once, I can do it again, and next time, I WILL be stronger. No pain no gain, as they say!

·        Things in life are sent to try us; its how you deal with them that makes you stronger. It helped me to look at each week as small steps back towards my goal. I could see the path before me but I could also see what was behind, and how far I had already travelled. Be positive, it was only an injury, you are still here aren’t you, so get up and work out what you CAN do today, tomorrow, next week to get to where you want to be. Be proactive.

Life is what you make of it, so what are you waiting for?

Helmets save lives.

Melanie Ryding