Stuff that helped me through the dark times
Our Social media culture does a good job of highlighting the good times and filtering or hiding the low ones. I’ve tried to keep it as honest as possible in this blog but also delved more into the happier and best moments of the recovery rather than the really bad ones as a way to keep every post positive.
But the truth is there were very dark days, a bunch of them when my mind lost it’s battle with the demons, anguish took over my thoughts and I started calculating how many more hours/days without being able to use my hands or move my neck or to go home and sleep in my own bed. In that situation a bunch of “what ifs” cloud your head. What if it doesn’t heal right, what if I can never do this or that again, what if I need another surgery, you get the point.
Oxycontin helped manage the pain and numb negative thoughts but it wasn’t a sustainable strategy to deal with adversity. So as days went by and the drug dosage decreased, together with my support group, we started brainstorming for a better strategy. Friends brought in critically acclaimed self-help books but the problem was I couldn’t hold them or look down to read so at the time it wasn’t viable. At the beginning I just kept my mind busy with the Celtics, the Patriots and Real Madrid but then I realized that just as my body needed nourishment and healing so did my mind.
I started where most millennials start when they don’t know how to do something.. Youtube! A friend of mine sent me an AMAZING talk which introduced me to who quickly became one of my absolute idols Colin O’Brady. I have drawn serious inspiration and insights from him, specifically about mindset when dealing with adversity. His story and mine actually have some pretty cool parallels. Here are two of my favorite talks with Colin:
Next up is my man Rich Roll. A friend brought his awesome book “Finding Ultra“. An incredibly inspiring story of his physical and mental ups and downs that ends up ultimately inspiring the reader to live his best life. The book also touches a little bit on eating habits and the transition to a plant based lifestyle. Rich’s podcast is packed with wisdom from incredible guests, he has a special talent in dissecting world class performers. Here he is talking to another of my idols David Goggins:
Speaking of which, David’s book “Can’t Hurt Me” is full of inspiration and a warrior mindset. Highly recommend!
Some movies that also resonated with my situation and lifted me up:
Tim Don, a pro-triathlete, who suffered a bad accident with a similar neck injury to mine released this short documentary packed with perseverance and and grit:
The Iceman’s Wim Hof story, his breathing techniques and absolute control of his body were also of incredible help:
Another book that fundamentally shifted my perspective on healing was “You are the Placebo: Making your mind Matter” by Dr.Joe Dispenza which was gifted to me by the mother of one of my best friends from college. It taught me that healing starts from the inside out and not the other way around, again all about the mindset.
These are a few of the resources that helped me the most but feel free to reach out if you think I am missing critical stuff from this list and we can keep on adding.
This post is dedicated to all of us that are going through dark times. I hope we can continue to draw inspiration from here. THE BEST IS YET TO BE!!!