Honestly, there’s is a moment when you can’t be strong. I think you actually need not to be strong to be it later.
This moment is when you realise that you’re injured (or if you’re a skeptical and non conformist/maverick person like me), when you’re told 4 times and with different test and proof that you’re pretty fucked up. If you’re a warrior, it will probably mean something like “giving up”. Going to the surgery room means the end of something but, hey!! It means also the beginning of something!
So here I am giving you my 13 tips to be stronger if you get injured
1. Accept your situation.
You win nothing telling yourself how poor you are, how bad your situation is and that you don’t deserve be like this. You are, accept it, look forward DAY BY DAY.
You’ll be doing baby steps, be grateful for that, at least you’re doing them.
2. Take your injury as an opportunity.
Maybe you didn’t have time with your life (before the injury) to do a lot of things you wanted to do. Now you can! Maybe you’ll have some pain because your stitches are still there but, hey, better than nothing?
3. Treat your injury as an "learning period".
I think learning is one of the greatest things in life, working out your brain always feels good and it’s necessary. Take advantage of this time by learning about your injury, about your bodies limits, about how to control pain, even about ways to sleep (because it probably won’t be easy for some weeks).
Photo: Jiri Horak Photography
4. Make sure you have something to do.
This is maybe the biggest mistake you can make. You might be traveling the world and you don’t have a job or studies to do and you get injured, you’ve got a problem.
You’re not going to be doing rehab all day long and, I think it’s not healthy to be 24 hours focused on your injury. You need to give it some time and don’t think about it, look for something to do.
5. Find a routine.
If you wake up knowing what your goal of the day is, everything will be easier. You’ll be automatically positive and even more so because you have the challenge to do whatever your goal is with an injured part of your body.
Routine is necessary to not over think in this sensitive moment of your life. So make your plan and make it work!
6. Take up another sport.
Depending of which part of your body is injured, you’ll probably be able to look for another sport to do. When my knee was injured… honestly, I didn’t find that sport, but with my shoulder… Let’s go indoor biking!!
7. Remind yourself you're a girl.
With so much kiting, I never had the chance to have a manicure, take real care of my hair, or do all the things girls normally do. This is your time! Give yourself some girly presents and, you’ll find another opportunity to learn to love yourself a bit more
8. Psychology.
Maybe, you’ll need their help. I’m honestly not doing it because of money but, if you can afford it, it’s a good way to learn how to control all the negative thoughts and convert them to positive ones.
9. Think of how lucky you are that you'll be able to be back.
“There’s always someone who is worse off than you” It is the typical thing that people tell you when you’re injured, but it really made real sense to me when I saw the video of the “butterfly child”.
I can’t imagine something worst than that, I mean, not so long ago I was waking up in the middle of the night because of the pain, imagine living with that pain 24 hours. Just because I’m not that bad, just because I’ll be able to come back stronger I feel super lucky and blessed. You should do the same.
10. STOP COMPLAINING.
I think it might be one of the most important things, in the end is all about being positive and, If you’re just complaining all the time you won’t achieve anything.
Actually, right now I’m something like 2 weeks away from normal recovery, and I think it’s because I’ve been extremely positive thanks to all these 10 points.
11. Watch motivational videos.
They’re a lot of awesome motivational videos out there, go find them. They’ll make you feel better.
12. Make a music motivation playlist
… and dont stop listening to it. It’s helping me a lot not to overthink and burn my brain!
13. Think you'll be back stronger and never forget it.
You’ll be having a lot of pain, you’ll be sleeping a little everyday and bad, you’ll be lonely, the rehab is going to be your worst nightmare, you’re going to know how much pain you’re able to tolerate… All of this will make you stronger, mentally and physically. Think about it every day, think that you’ll be back stronger, take this as a challenge. Is life challenging you, is life telling you; “you can’t do it, stop”.
One more thing I want to add…
I learned all of this by myself and after several injuries (some took me more time, some took me less) nobody told me what to make or how to feel about it. So here I’m giving you my knowledge (that was not easily and painlessly learned), take it and try to make the best of it.
Not everyday you’re given so easily the keys to “happiness” – ENJOY :)
Written by Julia Castro.
Instagram: @juliacastro
Facebook: Julia Castro Kiteboarding
