Full Stop

When life goes from moving along to full stop I don't think anyone is ready for it. I was not and am still working through it.

February 16, 2018 my life went from comfortable to Full Stop. I was rear ended while riding my motorcycle to work. Now I am looking at a life of pain from my knee.

However I am very fortunate. The doctor who operated on my knee (6 screws, 1 plate, and bone transplant) has the best reputation in the area. My friends really stepped up. They came to see me, brought food, even helped me get home. Then checked on me and made sure I was safe until my mom could make it in. Mom, bless her, she has been invaluable driving me to appointments, cooking, cleaning, you name it. Fortunately I was also smart with money, so while I will have to find an income soon, I don't have to stress yet.

But that doesn't change my life going from active and on the go to Full Stop. I am still me, I still find ways to get what I need done, but it takes longer. This is definately a lesson in patience.

Add to all this I also have to find a new job as mine has effectively fired me. They do not want to accommodate any disability from me, so I cannot return to work until I have a doctor's note stating I can and without limitations. It will be close to 4 to 6 months before that will happen. Gotta love corporate America.

So I am left with lots of time on my hands and with my healing taking less energy more energy. Gotta do something with myself or the mind will start to focus on the negative and that won't end well. What to do is the question.

But what do you do when you get put in this situation? Well I can tell you what I am doing.

Start a "Book of Everything" trendy people call it bullet journaling. For me it has critical emails, reports, contact information, and the like all related to the accident. It also includes to do lists, summaries from my doctor follow ups, notes about insurance... in short Everything related to this topic. Don't forget to have  table of contents other wise known as an index.

Staying positive can be difficult. Make lists of what needs to be done, then mark off what you achieve. Keep a list of progress as you make it. Where ever you have space write in encouragement words; "You Got This," "You Can Do This", etc.

Honor your emotions. Bottling them up will not make them go away. Feel them. Cry when you need to. But do not dwell on them. Instead when it feels insurmountable go back and read your list of accomplishments. Remember how far you already came. Never mind how far you may need to go, because honestly, we all got a long ways to go in life. Well, unless you are about to die, then you really don't have that far to go.

Accept your situation as it is. Spending time wishing you had this or that is wasting energy on things you either can't have or don't have. Focus on what you do have and how you can use it to get where you want to go.

Say thank you to everyone who gives even the slightest bit of help. Strangers who notice you and move out of your way. Friends who come over to even just talk. Friends who call to check on you. Thank them all. They are just as powerless as you to make the situation disappear, but they are doing what they can to make it better and for that deserve gratitude. It is just as hard for someone to see a very injured person as it is for a very injured person to live. Same goes for disabled. It reminds everyone of their mortality and no one likes that. Least no one I have met.

Well that's how I am getting through it.