This is my third and final blog post on this topic. For a little more context, read the previous posts (26th April and 24th May) explaining the process I followed.

Athlete 3 – Built on three pillars 

Prior to both injury and surgery, the final athlete in my series of blog posts adopted a mantra from their workplace; to establish three pillars upon which to create (personal) stability. He took the mantra and applied it to his life holistically and considered his three pillars as work, family and sport. These three pillars provided different support; work brought regular positive feedback; from family and friends they found community and personal support; and from sport, a relief valve through exercise and physical exhaustion. Having these three pillars in place meant the athlete’s self-concept was one of stability.

Their thoughts about how others saw them prior to injury and surgery were that in business, professional colleagues would hold them in a certain light (portraying a certain professional role) and their sports friends and community would see a different person (in a different role). These two areas remained broadly separate. Their family and some friends would experience both versions or aspects with some overlap between roles. 

The athlete experienced a catastrophic hill running accident followed by emergency surgery to repair extensive damage to their leg. The balance of support provided by the three pillars upon which they had such faith were challenged; both sport and, to an extent, work pillars were ‘collapsed’. They reflected at this point on the role of family and community admitting that they had neglected that pillar. By acknowledging the strength in these relationships, the athlete reflected on how they need to be cherished and how investing in them more in the future would be a priority. The athlete’s wife, children and wider family, sports friends, and the mountain rescue community became the immediate focus. 

Considering the views that other people held at this point, this athlete did not comment a great deal instead focussing more on describing how they accessed their understanding of goal setting principals to incrementally begin to build a new version of themself. By accessing work from home tasks when they were recovered enough from surgery, the athlete kept mentally active and engaged whilst physically compromised. They drew motivation from the inherent challenge of regaining agency and learning new movements in a world where they did not know what they might be capable of. Literally every additional angle of knee bend was a marginal gain.   

For this athlete, they see themselves in the future with a greater awareness of the different (and important) roles played respectively by family and work. Regarding sport, they see themself coming to terms with an adjusted set of goals and challenges measuring their new ability as they progress. These goals will be self-set, combining aspirational and actual challenges that push them to test and reset goals and overcome the next, tougher hurdle. This athlete acknowledges and accepts that now they are more apprehensive, require more support, must plan carefully, and have a different sense of the meaning of freedom compared to before. Thinking about how others see them in the future, the athlete explained that they’d like to get back to the situation they were before the accident so they can engage with, participate in, and experience the things they did in the past as though nothing had changed. Then realising during this explanation that they are different to what they were before, they reflected that people would see them differently. When meeting new people, the athlete was keen to express that they did not want to be defined by the accident and that by being forward thinking, not directly discussing the injuries and not dwelling on the past, they could create a new reality. 

Overall, this athlete reflected on a feeling of “togetherness again” and has been able to enjoy recovering based on there being, “so much that I (they) can do” and that they are very lucky. They consider the catastrophic nature of their injuries to be easier to deal with than a less serious injury, due to the obvious and significant change that occurred.  They were forced to come to terms with their new world. This athlete feels they have adjusted, coped, adapted, and accepted.          

My reflections: this athlete is still somewhere between acceptance of the new version of themselves and the past, yet has made significant and extraordinary progress recovering from the injuries they incurred.