This is Part 2, of a series about overcoming personal trials and conflict resolution. If you missed Part 1, you can catch up on it here on Navigating & Saving Your Own Life Through Kindness & Mental Strength. To learn more about where this story goes, follow me here on LinkedIn for Part 3.
Knowing the remoteness of the location of my accident and lack of accessibility, I did the best I could to keep my spine and neck aligned as I painstakingly inched my way out from underneath the bicycle to then be able to formulate a better plan. I could tell instantly my left arm and shoulder were unable to function, and yet I couldn’t figure out why.
Was my collarbone broken? Had I shattered my shoulder? I didn’t know but it HURT LIKE HELL!
Finally, after over an hour, I was able to free myself of the bike. Slowly and cautiously, I sat up, assessed the situation, and figured a concussion, at a minimum, was possible. Running crisis scenarios in my head, led to the possibility of internal injuries knowing that something was seriously wrong with my left side of my body. I could move my fingers and toes, which was an immediate relief but also I knew the delicate nature of spinal injuries and was worried about moving about too much.
At this point of my thought process, I had aspirations of getting out on my own. Having my emergency satellite beacon with me, I weighed whether or not I should call for help or ride or walk out myself. I desperately did not want to be injured or in need of outside assistance. My pride, privacy, and life-long self reliance and self-determination mindset did not want me to allow myself to need help. My hope was I was only minimally hurt, and ideally to be able to send a text to a buddy simply stating, “I’m hurt. Come get me.”
Thinking… if I could stand up, I could probably walk out on my own.. Naively, I figured I’d hit the local hot springs on the way home as the thought of hot water on my aching body sounded so good. Upon taking great effort and care to keep my spine aligned, I stood up. Without even trying to take a step, I knew I was unfit to attempt to even walk. As I swayed, despite my mind attempting movement, my body was not cooperating. I then balanced myself, sitting down as carefully and gently as I could still trying to understand what worked and what didn’t.
Upon sitting down, I knew I was in a predicament with a high level of potential for it to get significantly worse. By 6:00 pm, I was 1.25 hours into the injury and knew it would be getting dark in about 2.5 hours. More importantly at an elevation of over 8,000 feet it would start to get cold fast this time of year.. Pride be damned, I pressed the SOS button on the satellite beacon.
Asking for help is brutally hard for so many of us.
Conflict comes in all shapes, sizes, and forms. Sometimes conflict is a physical accident where there is a man versus nature element or maybe it is a relationship which at one point was the most amazing experience ever but has now devolved to malice, frustration, contempt, and the desire to move forward but not knowing how.
Either way, asking for help is a show of strength and determination to make it through the conflict. Setting aside pride, uncertainty, fear of the unknown, or whatever other negative emotion exists, is imperative for us as we seek a resolution to the conflict in our lives.
We all need help sometimes and it is important to know where to get the right help to meet our needs through finding solutions. This helps us move forward instead of leaving us stuck, alone, and injured on the trail.
If you are in need of a conflict resolution expert or mediation please reach out, I'd love to help you get to a resolution!
#ConflictResolution #AskingForHelp #Mediation #BadPredicaments #RespondingToCrisis #RespondingToChallenges