Patience.
Patience is a word I have had to quickly familiarise myself with (the irony of that is not lost on me).
Just over a week ago, a high velocity plant and twist at netball resulted is a sore knee, a sore hip and a complete inability to put my foot down. It’s not broken, just a sprain, but it truly is taking its time.
Patience.
Going from walking on my toes, I can now put my heel down. I can now go up and down stairs at the developmental age of a 3 year old, though at the speed of a 93 year old.
Patience.
I have a lot of sympathy, and empathy, for people who are unable to walk for whatever reason it may be.
Grocery shopping, ice, tube stations, train stations, all these things are very hard. Let’s not even begin to lament the loss of the ability to drive. Getting to work and back has become akin to a polar expedition. It’s knackering to say the least, and at the end of all those trials and tribulations my knee screams in complaint and keeps me awake at night.
Patience.
But every adventure must be carried through with grace and poise. I particularly liked this fun little diagram from The World Extreme Medicine team:
And everywhere I go, I am amazed by the kindness of strangers.
Like the lady who on the first day after it happened, as I navigated 3 trains to get to a colleague’s house to get a lift to work (a one hour drive still), gave me her arm to aid me up and down the overhead steps.
Or the colleague who went out of her way to pick me up despite her own trials and tribulations.
Or my favourite, the 91 year old lady who I met at a Christmas concert who, not knowing, offered me a lift home just because she was having so much fun.
Thank you to the kindness of strangers for getting me through 🙂