One Month After My Cycling Accident: Gratitude, Recovery, and Noticing Progress

Today marks one month since my cycling accident, and I’m so glad to report that I’m doing much better.

First, thank you to everyone who reached out, checked in, offered help, and sent words of support. It has meant more than you know.

My leg is doing much better. The hematomas will take a while to fully heal, but I’m walking again. The concussion is still lingering, but the headaches are much less frequent, and I’m hardly taking any Advil. My bruised elbow and sprained wrist need more time too. I’ve become surprisingly good at doing things while wearing a brace and figuring out what I can do with my left hand when my right hand isn’t cooperating. I’m also figuring out when I still need to ask for help. There are some simple things I still can’t do, like opening a water bottle or peeling an orange. But alas, I never liked peeling oranges anyway.

Most of all, I feel thankful.

I know how much worse my injuries could have been. And over the past month, I’ve tried to focus not on how far I still have to go, but on the progress I’m making.

I’m grateful for every sign that my body is healing. For being able to walk again. For having the ability to rest when I need to and to give myself the time to recover rather than push through.

I’m also incredibly grateful for my husband, who has taken care of me throughout all of this, stepped in wherever I needed him, and made it possible for me to focus on healing.

Recovery has reminded me that progress doesn’t always happen as quickly as we would like. Sometimes it is measured in very small things: a little less pain, one more thing you can do for yourself, a day with fewer headaches, a walk that wasn’t possible a week ago.

Those small things are easy to overlook when we’re focused on getting back to where we were.

Right now, I’m choosing to notice them.

There is still more healing ahead, but one month later, I’m grateful for how far I’ve come, for the people who have supported me along the way, and for every bit of progress that brings me closer to feeling like myself again.