Discernment and grit are two topics that I relate to. Even since the start of this class I have had to deal with discernment and grit with my new ankle injury that requires surgery. I have become accustomed to injury in the last couple years and they truly have made a positive impact on my life. They have made me tough, they have taught me lessons of patience and gratitude, as well as knowing that I can overcome hard obstacles.
One of bigger adversities that I have faced is tearing my labrum in my throwing shoulder during my senior year of high school. I am very blessed to not have had to go through a more serious adversity in my life because I realize others have been through much worse then me. This was the first time I had ever had a serious injury despite being a three sport athlete throughout my youth. I had the occasional sprain, but nothing that ever kept me out of multiple games. This injury cut my senior basketball season off not even halfway through, and also ended my baseball career. I will never forget getting into my car right after the news from the doctor of a labrum injury and letting my emotions get the best of me. I was devastated and angry, but I would eventually learn that this was just another obstacle that I would have to overcome.
After a few days I began to look at the bigger picture and decided to set a goal of being 100% healthy when the day came for me to head to Georgetown. I had to forget about my basketball season and forgot about baseball. I had to stop feeling bad for myself and start grinding away at getting better. This all was mental flourishing for me. I had to let go of some of my short term wants and instead look to what the future held. There were long days of therapy and watching my teammates play as I sat on the bench, but l had to challenge myself to stay positive. Through the help of my parents, my reliance of my faith, and setting short term goals I was able to face this adversity head on. I learned not to let one bump in the road change the direction for my life. This injury did not end my athletic career, it was just something that put it on halt. I could have done something much worse. Looking back on the mental and emotional growth that this injury forced me to do I am thankful for it.
Not only did I have to flourish emotionally and mentally, but also physically. I could not lift my arms above my shoulder when the injury first happened, and I decided against surgery so I had a long road in front of me. I had to strengthen every small muscle around my labrum to the point where I was back throwing footballs. The injury happened at the end January and I had until July to get healthy. Mentally I was prepared to work really hard in therapy, but I was not patient. After weeks and weeks of therapy my shoulder was not healing as fast as I thought. I was not able to push as hard as I wanted in therapy because I did not want to re-injure myself. I was physically healing slowly, and I still struggled with the challenge of staying positive until I started a new form of therapy.
I never realized how hard I would be challenged to flourish until I decided to start a new type of treatment called neuro-therapy. Describing what neuro-theroay is would take a long explanation, but in general your muscles are shocked as you perform movements to build up muscle and neurological balance within your body. Basically, my shoulder is connected to a machine that sends electricity into your muscles and causes them to contract fiercely. The goal is to fight the contraction of the muscles. The machine is manually turned up so the more it goes up the more electricity and the more pain. Everyday I walked in the office to do Neuro-therapy I had to mentally prepare to go through the hardest and most painful treatment I had ever endured. I had to keep turning up the volume on the machine because the more electricity the more healing. While this sounds like torture, it is actually very safe and it works. It does however feel terrible. To go through this intense treatment it took strength from mind and body. I flourished because of this adversity brought me some of the toughest treatments that I overcame and it forced me to look at the bigger picture in life. I now know what I am capable of in terms of coming back from injury as well as being able to overcome any mental struggle.
Now that I have another injury of which is worse then previous, there are new obstacles ahead of me. I have learned through past experiences and now through this class the how to grit it out. I also can use the emotional intelligence that I have learned to keep myself positive through these injuries.
