Nothing is easy about coming back after an injury into the way life used to be. Challenges come that make your life seem like it’s changed forever. Oftentimes, doubt sweeps in and can make it seem like things will never go back to normal. Patience is so hard to have when in recovery and not seeing results quickly can be very discouraging.

Getting hurt, however, doesn’t mean your life is over but that it’s temporarily changed. A few months to a year of recovery is actually very short when you compare it to the rest of your life. 

How is it possible to have the view that everything will be ok when you’re in your darkest? How can one possibly achieve their goals when all they feel like doing is giving up? Having faith in yourself is the answer. 

Back in February of 2022, I tore my MCL, ACL and meniscus, and also fractured my femur and tibia in a track accident. I often thought to myself  “why me?” I felt as though everything I loved doing was gone in an instant. 

Over the summer, I spent hours in physical therapy, pushing through extreme pain. My physical therapist is one of the most kind and encouraging people I have ever met. He would always push me beyond my limits and would tell me I could do anything I put my mind to. 

I remember one day in PT I just didn’t have the energy or the strength to push myself to the max. I was in so much pain. At the beginning of my session, I would ride the bike for 10 minutes. I was finally able to get my leg to push through all the way around the bike whereas before I was only able to do half circles around the bike because my knee was restricted in how much it could bend. Immediately after I got off the bike, I headed straight to a table where my physical therapist would massage and bend my leg. Each day we’d see how many degrees my leg could bend, and typically I’d go up in degrees each time. 

One session, however, was different from any other. I was in just as much pain but I wasn’t feeling confident in all with my improvement. I remember laying there and thinking about how disappointed I’d be if I decreased or remained the same in progress. I prayed in that very moment, asking God to help give me the strength and the ability to bend my leg. As my physical therapist pushed my leg to the max and grabbed a tool called a goniometer to measure my range of motion in degrees, he looked at me with wide eyes and a huge smile and told me that I improved by 5 degrees within a week! My eyes filled with tears. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I felt as though I was seeing no improvement and that the pain I was feeling was for nothing, but this day proved me wrong. 

The point in that story is to share the feeling of wanting to give up and the result of having faith in the process. You will want to give up in life. There are going to be so many things you go through that seem like it’s the end and like there’s no way you can get through it. Though your mind is telling you one thing, it’s so important to have a small amount of faith in yourself that maybe, just maybe, you’ll get through your obstacle.

Every week, physical therapy got better and better. I found my strength coming back and was seeing results a lot faster than when my doctors anticipated. I began more challenging workouts week by week and kept a consistent schedule making sure to discipline myself. I also had people who believed in me which gave me the extra confidence I needed to not give up. I’d say that having a support team helped keep me accountable with every step I needed to recover quickly. 

Find your truest supporters and surround yourself with people who love you. Going through an injury can be the darkest and loneliest time of your life, so having people who want to get involved, who want to check up on you and who really care is so important. 

I could see myself getting better each week in physical therapy, achieving my goals and finally seeing the long awaited progress I swore would never come in the beginning. Slowly but surely, my strength came back. I began jumping again, running and even lifting with light weights. I went from being in total darkness filled with heartbreak to having that small amount of faith that truly moved me towards greatness in my life. I reached out to people for help, I prayed, and I didn’t shut out the people around me who were just trying to push me towards my goals. 

From my experience, I’ve found a love for the way the human body heals. I’ve learned so much about what patients in PT go through and the true pain of an injury. This past summer I committed to GCU with their early lock-in program to study physical therapy. I feel incredibly blessed to have the knowledge I do from my own personal experience with PT. 

 Believe in yourself, tell yourself you can handle the trial you’re in and nothing will ever stop you from achieving your goals. Just an ounce of faith can move a mountain.