Episode 93: The Dark Times, from Momentum to Chaos, ensued a Lost Sense of Self

In his early 20’s, Sergio was living his best life, while performing well in secure employment that was inclusive of salary, pension, benefits, vacation time and all the bells and whistles. Sergio was excelling in his career, landing achievements and promotions, and studying part time. His life took a sharp turn after he sustained severe injuries following a car accident as a passenger coming home from his birthday celebration. Given the driver went into shock, Sergio was the one to make the 911 call to get help, realizing that he was unable to move his body. Sergio shares details of the time it took to get back moving with ease and what it took to get his mobility to increase while his pain level decreased, he found a way to shed fear, anger, and resentment. There were many themes and obstacles that Sergio faced during his rehabilitation journey and transitioning back into his work life, describing a time where he felt like a “disabled guy”. After undergoing his second surgery to remove the hardware put in, he came to heads with seeing limitations in being able to live life the way he did pre-accident. Filled with sadness and despair, Sergio felt behind, self-defeated in areas of his career and healing relationships. Through the thick of it, Sergio described his mental health at the time was impacted by intense anxiety and minor depression, experiencing sadness as he was not able to do the things he enjoyed, performing differently in the workplace, facing irrational fears, and difficulty being a passenger in a vehicle with any driver. His key message to the listeners is that: it is important to slow down because if you are on the go on a regular basis, it can get you into some trouble; even when you want to be in a hurry, you need to slow down, there’s benefit to slowing down, take time to think things through; there is no need to get somewhere so quickly, it can actually slow you down in ways you can’t expect or desire.