About a month ago I broke the shit out of my leg playing roller derby. It was no one’s fault. It’s a dangerous sport with a high level of physical stress, and it was just a bit of bad luck where I was knocked over and my foot didn’t move. Damn foot.
After 2.5 hours waiting for an ambulance, 2 resets, 2 broken bones, emergency surgery, a plate and 7 screws, and my mom flying over from Alabama, I was left in my third floor flat mostly moving from the bed to the sofa and back, leg propped up as high as I could stand.
Now, I’m not saying all this for sympathy, I want to just walk through a few things that really help put a silver lining on a crap situation when you are busy and have research or jobs looming and articles not writing themselves while you are binging on Gilmore Girls.
Simon was helping.
- It happens. Get your frustration off your chest. Scream, cry, beat the shit out of a pillow, whatever you need to do to get it out. Then, deal with it.
- Look at the bright side. Now that you are homebound and off of alcohol (drinking and crutches bad, apparently), you have all the time to focus on those niggly research things you might not have ‘had time’ to before. WIN!
- Appreciate the serendipity. For me, this was in noticing the little things that seemed to make things a bit better somehow: getting to spend quality time with my mom, specially made Velcro-leg trousers from Kiki, a horrible pair of socks from home that I would never normally wear that were perfect for my bad leg, and people I didn’t expect to come visit being the first over.
- Make a plan. Set goals. Goals for your day or week. These are bigger than things you may put on your daily to do list. My goal for week 3 was to have finished the chapter I was working on by the time I broke my leg. By week 4 my goal was ‘take a proper shower’ – it’s all perspective.
- Make a list. Lists help. Especially when you put the minor victories on the list. I must have written ‘wash hair’ and ‘get dressed’ on every to do list for 4 weeks. It’s satisfying to look back on well scored-out to do list. This is something for life, not just for dealing with managing an illness or injury.
- Get down to work. You’re maybe stuck home, luckily, reading and writing and thinking are not activities that require a lot of physical exertion. No excuses.
- Take breaks. You may be tempted to work through the day like I did while creating the website for Echoes of the City, but remember that some movement and engagement with humanity is vital.
- Reward yourself. Celebrate the small things. I had a ½ pint beer as a celebration for being able to take a couple of steps without crutches. It was about 2 tiny steps, but steps after all, and worth celebrating. The same goes for making small research goals.
- Prepare to go back to normal. No matter how long you may be homebound and working your ass off on your research with this unexpected, and unexpectedly focussed, time, it will not last forever. Before long, life will pick back up on its normal course. You need to prepare. Expand your lists and goals to include other life things as your life returns to its pre-injury/illness/whatever flow.
You have to make the most of any situation; it’s all about management, expectations, and celebrating the small things. All life lessons that I hope I can take with me once I’m walking properly again.