Navigating Setbacks
How to Stay Positive When Healing Doesn’t Go as Planned
So remember not too long ago where we talked about how the recovery and resilience process are not linear? Well, sometimes that non-linear path takes a full on life of it’s own known as a setback. The dictionary defines a setback as “a reversal or check in progress.” A setback in your healing journey could look like many different things: a new injury, malfunction in hardware requiring additional surgery, delayed wound healing, or other abnormal occurrences that could happen post operatively. From what I’ve seen, these setbacks are rather uncommon, but do occur. Setbacks can also be less major, as in missing a week of physical therapy, unable to move as well due to a stiffened joint, and maybe you can’t make it up the stairs one day when you could the previous day. These setbacks are all pretty common and things that patients typically endure during their recovery process. (There are many variations of what setbacks can look like, and this is not an all encompassing list.)
So how do we stay the course when these setbacks do occur? It’s times like these that I wish I could go back to my 15 year old self and ask her how she did it. When it came to facing setbacks, ya girl seemingly enjoyed them. In all seriousness, I think what my subconscious mind did, was treat each setback like a hurdle, or a small mountain to climb, rather than chains or an anchor that held me back. I looked in the face of each challenge and told myself that I didn’t have any other way but through. Looking at setbacks like a challenge is step #1, how do you respond when faced with a challenge, and what is it that you say to yourself?
Step #2 is your actions. If step #1 is how we talk to ourselves, then step #2 is our actions and what we do with the information that we have. Here is where you take steps to reduce the pain stimulus (whether it be emotional, or physical pain). Is this something you can talk with your doctor, physical therapist, or mental health provider about? Can they provide you with ways that you can mitigate your pain? Or is this something where you know how to manage it yourself? For example: if going up the stairs a certain way aggravates your leg, is there another way that you can go up the stairs? If you notice that doing all of your home exercises at one time causes pain, is there a way that you could break them up into smaller, more manageable chunks? Again, these are just a few examples, but hopefully it can get you thinking about these setbacks in a different way.
Step #3 our third and final step that you can take is asking yourself: if faced with this setback again in the future, how will you manage it? Is there anything that you would change, is there anything you can do differently, or would you react the same way and hope for a similar outcome. My best piece of advice is to start by journaling. Write down what exactly it is that you are going through, how it makes you feel, and how you’ve responded to it. Then you can take it a step further and manifest what you will do in the future should a similar situation happen to you. You can then use this as future motivation to look back on and be proud of yourself for getting through a challenging time in your life.
By taking these small but mighty steps, you are taking your recovery into your own hands, which should hopefully give you a sense of hope and resolve. Always remember, you are your greatest source of strength and power.
The information provided in this blog post is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you have read on this site. Reliance on any information provided in this blog post is solely at your own risk.
