Silver Linings of Being Hit by a Bus (Part 1)

After becoming the “Local Woman Hit By Bus” in 2008, I faced a lot of difficulty in the recovery process. Chronic pain, uncertainty of how well I may heal, financial insecurity and accruing debt, struggling to find a lawyer to take the case, fighting the bus company, and so on. At times, the stress broke me down in ways I didn’t even know were possible. While all of that trauma is certainly an important part of the story, this series is instead focused on the silver linings that (eventually) emerged.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ll never say the bus accident was a good thing. Or that I’m glad that it happened. Or everything happens for a reason. But over time, I’ve come to believe that there are always seeds planted in every terrible thing that happens in this world. That was certainly the case for me with the bus accident. It took a really long time to find anything positive in the situation, aside from immediate relief and gratitude for not being dead, of course! But eventually, goodness made its way to me in several forms that I’ll cover in a few posts.

Getting Active

Before the accident, I was not focused on my health at all. I’d sought after losing weight and trying to get “skinny” most of my life, but otherwise had zero goals or efforts in place for wellness. I was barely physically active aside from occasional nights out dancing at music events and working full-time in a bustling coffee shop that kept me on the go.

Fast forward to today: I am now an avid hiker and cyclist. I taught myself how to swim in my thirties. I regularly do weight and resistance training. I dabble in mindful movement (yoga, qigong, somatic exercise).

Essentially, I became motivated to take care of my body by way of a heavy realization: I had to keep moving if I wanted to keep moving.

In the early days of healing, I discovered that slacking on my physical therapy exercises or taking even a single day off of stretching quickly resulted in pain and setbacks. Even when I was completely on top of things and doing my part, I’d experience debilitating flare-ups out of nowhere, like the day I tweaked my back while bending over to pick something up from the floor.

As I developed more consistency in tuning into and taking care of my body’s heightened needs, I began to see steady progress. The flare-ups didn’t last quite so long when they came, and they began arising less often too.

I don’t recall how long it took, but I eventually realized that I enjoyed exercise and moving my body. (More on this epiphany in the next installment.) At the same time, though, I was getting bored with dragging myself to the gym and doing the same exercises all the time. (Hello, ADHD!)

That’s when I started mixing in more walking. This soon led to hiking, because if you’re going to walk, why not do it in the woods? The bike purchase came soon after at the suggestion of my ex. Then, I finally figured out swimming, thanks to the help of my niece, who had recently learned and possessed a knack for breaking it down in a way I could understand.    

This week alone, my Fitbit has tracked 139 zone minutes per day, which is pretty close to the amount of moderate activity recommended by the American Heart Association for an entire week (150 minutes)! At 41, I can easily ride my bike up to 50 miles, hike up to 20 miles, and go out dancing for hours. I am in better shape now than I was at 14 or 24, and I am grateful every day for my body’s abilities.

Truly, I have the bus accident to thank for this transformation, though it was hardly a pleasant push toward better health. Still…thanks, bus…I guess?