Last week I passed my six-month post-ACL-surgery checkup and am officially cleared to twist and pivot again! It might not sound like much, but after months of immobility and very limited mobility, knowing my body is pretty much back to normal and ready to stretch, bend, and move means a lot.
That same week, I tweaked my back and found myself unable to stretch, bend, or move as I recovered. It wasn't "a big deal," and I was confident my back would recover, yet at the same time the injury profoundly affected me. I was thrown right back into the deep sadness of six months ago when the coping skills I had developed over the past years were all ripped away. I couldn't bike, walk well, or work out. I even had to be careful at yoga. I felt helpless and a little hopeless.
Recognizing that this relatively small incident was triggering helped me recognize and normalize what could have felt like an overreaction. My body and mind weren't overreacting - they knew that being immobile like this was hard on me and were reacting reasonably to another round of hard feelings. Fortunately, I knew cognatively that this injury was very different than my knee and would have a very different recovery arc. And that took some of the edge off of the big feels.
It's tricky to recognize your triggers, and oh so powerful when you do. Knowing your triggers gives context to your physical and emotional reactions, and it gives you something to work with beyond the vague feeling that you're spinning out.
What areas of life to you tend to "overreact" at? Can you detect if those "overreactions" are similar to a very difficult, scary, or life-altering situation you experienced in the past? What could it look like (to work with a trained professional) to help to heal from that original difficult time rather than simply managing your triggers and reactions?
This is the work I love as a therapist - we can always heal. Sometimes it just takes a little similar injury for us to see the trigger and find its root.
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