The Best Medicine

Experiencing trauma and pain is inevitable and the way that we are able to make it through these bad times are with the hope that we will once again be well and happy. Throughout my life there has been many times where I have been down in the dumps where I can not see the silver lining within a situation. What seems to help me in these bad times is to take a moment to step back and look at the situation again and think about how it will affect me in five years. If it is something that will affect in that amount of time than I allow myself to worry about it, but if it doesn’t than I ask myself what about is specifically bothering me. The main thing that helps me the most is to try and laugh about whatever is bothering me since it typically is not something that will affect me in the long run.

An example of this is over the summer prior to my junior year I was playing soccer during double sessions and in practice one of my best friends and I simultaneously kicked the ball which resulted in my falling and rolling over my right ankle. Preforming this kick is something that I have done thousands upon thousands of time and I would have never thought that this kick would result in my spraining. This especially stunk because I thought that my season was over before it had started. The pain from this injury was so unbearable I could not put any weight on it and it felt as if I had broken my ankle. It was so detrimental to me that I would not be able to play soccer for a couple weeks, it felt like I was disappointing the whole team. It was not until all my friends had rushed over to me that I realized that through the pain and anguish from spraining my ankle that I was smiling and beginning to laugh about what just happened. Me, one of the tallest players on the team who has been playing soccer against guys twice my size since I was a freshman just got taken down by one of the shortest kids in my grade. My team helped me off to the sideline where I was able to take my cleats off and lay down while I process the pain. The pain was excruciating and my breathing was very uncontrolled getting words out in the first place was difficult. Throughout this hard ache and pain I still was cracking jokes and laughing about what just happen. Laughter is truly the best medicine, taking a step back and just finding the humor in the situation helps the healing process.

It has been over a year since this injury and to this day every time we see someone fall in the way that I did when I sprained my ankle we laugh about it and makes jokes. Throughout my senior year of soccer with a couple repeat injuries and falls that resulted in pain to my ankle. My teammates are always there to pick me up and make sure that I am okay. Immediately after the pick me up and make sure I am okay a flood of jokes poor in about how ridiculous I looked when I fell or slipped. Following the game and onslaught of jokes and ridicule from my team I am luckily greeted by equals amount if not more mockery from the parents. But no matter what it is all for fun and these moments are the ones I am always going to remember. This is the type of attitude that I hope I am able to carry to more aspects of my life in order to enjoy the things I am doing more.

Though spraining my ankle the way I did was a very painful experience that I had to go through I will always remember it as one of the funniest things to ever happen to me. Life is to short to spend it worrying about thing that are out of your control. After the incident happened there was nothing I can do to heal my ankle right away so there would be no point in worrying about it.

Photo on Foter.com