life keeps moving, even when you can’t
Something happened to me a few months back that hasn’t happened to me in 15 years…I fell. I’ve been in a wheelchair for 17 years after breaking my neck. As a quadriplegic, I worked so hard to be able to stand and transfer, with a person’s help, into a walker because I don’t have any balance. Each day I stand with my walker and shuffle 20 feet to the shower chair. I compare this to walking a tightrope. I’m holding myself up with about 30% of my lower extremity strength and 50% of my upper extremity strength with no balance and little room for error. I did this, without incident, for 15 years. It had become routine.
I tripped and fell headfirst into the laundry room door. I bent my right knee further than it’s bent in 17 years, smacked it on the tile, and then hit my hip, my shoulder, and my neck. I found myself on the floor, looking up at the ceiling. We called 911, and the paramedics were able to get a sheet underneath me and get me on a gurney to assess me. Thankfully, nothing was broken, but my right knee was swelling quickly. I was able to see my orthopedic doctor, and she drained 70 cc from my right knee and determined that I would be sore but did not need surgery. What I didn’t know is my back had been thrown out, and soon a herniated disc would be sitting right on my sciatic nerve.
The next morning I went to sit up, and there was agonizing pain that went down my left leg and made it impossible to sit up, let alone stand. For years I have been able to get up out of bed with one person to help me bathe, get dressed, and head off to work. I love the company we’ve created at Titan Brands. We aren’t perfect, but we’ve been around for 20 years, and it is my other “family”. Now I was stuck with the reality of not only being paralyzed, but now I was unable to even get out of bed. The pain unbearable. A mountain in front of a mountain.
Life kept moving. A calendar full of meetings and events. Life didn’t care what had happened to me. “Again?” I thought. Then I remembered what I’d made it through all these years. I relied on the “Steps” I had developed after years of adversity.
Step one: Let people know you need help. Be specific.
Step two: Focus on the solution. You can’t change the past.
Step three: Let anyone relying on you know what’s happened. Be honest with what you can commit to and what you can’t.
Step four: Stay positive and be grateful. You will be surprised by what people are willing to do for you if you do this.
Step five: Keep moving forward. Recovery is a journey, not a destination.
When adversity strikes, try these steps. Commit to the journey and try to end each day a little further along than where you started. If you want to hear more tips on overcoming adversity in business, health, and relationships, or know someone who would benefit from this, please follow me, @scottallenfrost.
Always move forward,
SCOTT
