A Sense Of Motivation

Hello everyone, 2Pole here, and I wanted to use this opportunity to present a brief motivational message to all of those here who are suffering from any sort of medical distress that prevents their participation in the activities of their choice discussed in these forums (such as skiing). To begin with, I wanted to share some of my own health history with you, and how I have worked to overcome various injury and illness related challenges. As of this moment, I consider myself to be pretty darn healthy. I do see a therapist for mental health reasons, but the only physical things to ail me are some pain in my meniscus and patellar tendons, elbow, and a vampire toe. However, as part of my action sports history, I have dislocated both shoulders (tearing both labrum(s) and receiving a fractured shoulder) and completely torn both acl's. Thus, I have had two arthroscopic shoulder surgeries, labrum repairs, and two acl re-constructions using patellar tendon grafts. My last shoulder surgery was in 2016 and my last knee surgery was in 2013, over a decade ago. At times it was a painful recovery (every time), however I was always able to get back to the sports and activities that I loved. Yet, there were some basic questions that I had to ask myself; such as: "Is it more important that I recover, or that I succeed." Ultimately, I believe that I was able to do both, and more importantly I realized that what was most critical was that I meet my own standards and definitions for both recovery and success.

My mental health presented a different challenge, after all people thought I was crazy in large part because of skiing. What it became though, is that skiing and mountain biking were the primary ways through which I would recover my mental health and emerge as successful and ambitious member of the technology work force. This raises the other question; what is it that you want to succeed the most in? The point remains, that the primary factor to determine your success as you endeavor to recover from sports injury or illness is the attitude you take to that disability, whether it be temporary or permanent. And it is our attitude, that we are supposed to have under the control of our mentality. In this manner, your recovery is mental, even if you are dealing with the worst of physical circumstances. I hope you all have the best of luck as you move past your injuries, or as you help others to move past (or even prevent) theirs. I wanted to open up this thread for people to share motivational tidbits, helpful advice on the general topic of recovery, and personal stories that they believe will help others on their own paths. If I think of anything else useful I will post it here. Other than that, shred hard and have a great day.