HOW TO KEEP YOUR SANITY WHILST INJURED IN A SKI TOWN
Why is it that so many injuries in sport occur either doing something you’ve done hundreds if not thousands of times, or on something easy that you could perform with your eyes closed (Maybe one eye if we are talking mountain environments - could be dangerous).
If you’ve been following our social media, you would have seen a few weeks ago we made a post about a snowboarding injury I sustained during an exam clinic training session. I was riding terrain that I had ridden hundreds of times before, slipped slightly and put my back hand down to the snow to stabilise myself and end up coming away at the end of the day with a Grade 3 Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) tear. Nothing life threatening, narrowly missed having to have srgery, and certainly could have been much worse than it is, but because of the potential severity of more damage occurring, there goes a minimum of six weeks of riding and 8 - 12 weeks of physiotherapy and rehab before I’m relatively back to normal. Anyone doing seasons knows this kind of time is basically a death sentence, it’s a season finisher essentially. So what can you do to keep your mind from going batshit crazy in a mountain town where everyone lives and breathes the snow lifestyle?
Easy: Shut your eyes, block your ears and curl up in the foetal position in a corner of your room until the snow melts and spring arrives.
Alright, not quite that dramatic. But keeping yourself occupied is a difficult thing to do when you start realising work is a huge chunk of your day and you enjoy what you do. Here’s a few things that I’ve been doing to stay sane.
SLEEPING IN
Working on the mountains means waking up early before the sun, working hard all day and going home late. So anyone who does seasons will know a sleep in is a huge luxury we don’t often get. Even though we have beautiful views most mornings like the one below, it’s kinda nice to sleep a little more and wake up at 7 or 7:30 instead. Don’t take your sleep for granted.
EXERCISE
My job is very physically active and I am the first to admit I’m not in the greatest shape of my life, but the time off has given me a chance to listen to my body more. All the little aches and pains from constant high-impact sport are starting to subside because I now have an unhurried schedule to work with where I can stretch properly, roll and work out to get myself strong and lean and flexible again. I have started to notice an improvement in my mood, my mental and emotional state and my motivation levels that I can say with certainty relate back to constant exercise which was certainly lacking in my life over the last year or so.
FRISBEE GOLF
Seems like most mountain towns have a frisbee golf course. Cheap to start playing and just as frustrating as the real thing, it’s always a good time when a few of you decide to go play a round. Even better when they agree to play left handed because you have no other option (results may vary).
PHOTOGRAPHY
I am lucky in the sense that photography will always keep me busy and occupied. There are always things I can work on with my business which can be seen publicly like website and social updates, as well as the business side of things which are invisible to the public. But there will also always be something to shoot and something to express and share with the world and I am grateful for that.
FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Friends make up a large amount of my happiness levels too right now. I have great housemates who tell me how much I am missing out on at the moment, good friends from work are more like family, friends over FaceTime and family that always care how you are, no matter where I might be in the world.
There’s a few more things I could list (lotsssss of surfing, snowboarding and skate videos on YouTube) but if you’re still reading this far, you’ve probably had enough of me whinging. What have you done to keep yourself occupied if you’ve been injured before? I appreciate everyone who has helped me so far stay occupied and those who have asked about how I’m doing. Be back soon x
Peace,
Josh
