Lessons from a Broken Foot on Vacation

Yesterday, I unfortunately broke my foot on vacation, and I’m happy to say that it hasn’t gotten me down at all. It happened at a local CrossFit box near Dallas, Texas where I was joining in on a group workout of:

5 rounds for time of:

• 7 burpee bar muscle ups
• 10 dumbbell thrusters (20 lb / 35 lb)

…and somewhere around round 3 I let go from the top of the bar muscle up and fell 6-8 feet and landed really hard on my left foot. It hurt a lot in the moment, but I finished the workout carefully and thought it was just a hard landing and that the pain in my bone would diminish soon after I was finished the workout. It hasn’t, and it seems I’ve actually broken my left foot from the fall.

The person I was in the past would have freaked out, let it ruin my vacation, and would have been miserable that this setback will slow down my training, hurt my fitness level, and totally interfere with my life.

Even though my foot hurts a lot right now, my training will have to be modified for a period of weeks (or maybe months) so that my bone can properly heal, and walking around with crutches and a cast will be inconvenient, it’s certainly not the end of the world or the worst problem I could be facing.

As I grow older, I like to think I’ve become a little wiser. If you can’t learn from your previous life experiences, what’s the point of repeating the same patterns of stress, anxiety, frustration, and disappointment?

I’ve broken bones before, and know that if I eat healthily, rest, and respect the healing process by not rushing workouts that cause pain, my body will work quickly and efficiently to heal itself. I know I can get through this, because I’ve gotten through it before.

I’ve read a lot of books recently on growth mindset, positivity, cultivating gratitude, defeating self-limiting beliefs, and creating your own happiness, and yesterday was the perfect time to call upon that mental training to get me through this short-term obstacle.

I had the choice to play the victim and throw a pity party for myself that this happened to me halfway through my trip to Texas, or deal with the unexpected situation in a more positive and productive way.

Immediately, I started making a mental list of all of the things I was grateful for about the situation:

• Non-driving foot: I broke my non-dominate foot, which will make driving a car much easier with the cast on my left foot and not on my right.
• Loaner wheelchairs: All of the excursions I went to in Dallas (Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, JFK Assassination Museum) had loaner wheelchairs, and my friend Emily was able to push me around so I could still participate in the sightseeing we had planned.
• Strong legs: I have strong legs from strength training, and can hop up steps or hop around easily on one leg if I have to without fear of falling over.
• Helpful friends: I have a great network of people in my community who care about my well-being, and I was able to Facetime an emergency room doctor from my gym to double check that waiting 3 days to return to Canada to get my foot x-rayed back home and keeping it immobilized in an air cast and crutches is the best alternative for right now while travelling outside of Canada.
• Kind strangers: People have been wonderful helping me find wheelchairs to borrow, setting up my crutches for me in the drug store, and doing what they can to help me feel comfortable. I appreciate the kindness that others have shown me.
• It happened on vacation: Ironically, I’m grateful this accident happened on vacation. It means I don’t have to book any time off work to get a cast and crutches, and I can spend more time relaxing in bed or by the pool, staying off my foot to let it rest when it’s most painful in the acute phase.
• It could be worse: The break could be worse, I could be in more pain, I could have required immediate surgery but didn’t, I could have broken both feet from my fall at the same time… or I could be facing an even bigger problem than something as small as a broken foot (for instance, my heart goes out to the 88,000 Canadians in Fort McMurray, Alberta fleeing their homes right now as their town burns down in a horrible wildfire).

The other thing that helped me cope is that I still feel empowered, not helpless. I was able to take action to get crutches and a boot to protect my foot. I was able to check-in with a doctor and friend using technology to help guide my decision making about what to do until I get home from vacation. I’ll still be able to go to the gym for a workout each day, but I’ll just have to get advice from my coaches about how to modify things so that I can exercise safely without doing any further damage. When I fly home tomorrow, I’ll have to ask for help at the airport to be driven to my gate (or see if there’s another wheelchair I can borrow), and I know I’ll find a way to manage, especially with the help of kind strangers.

I’m not going to let this slow me down or wreck my vacation and my good mood, so I’ve made the decision to make the best of this situation. I can’t change the past, so I’m enjoying the present, being smart and safe in the moment, and not worrying about the future.

So now, I’m off to the CrossFit gym so my friend Emily can get in her workout, and then one last day to explore Dallas and squeeze in as much fun as we can before flying back home.

Sometimes life lessons come unexpectedly and from the most random of places, so thank you broken foot, for teaching me that a serious injury doesn’t have to ruin my entire vacation or hold me back from feeling happy and having fun.