The hand you're Dealt

Everyone's favorite cards in blackjack don't always get dealt to them.

            Sometimes life can deal a less than stellar hand.  Those cards that we are dealt can be a test (who am I kidding, 90% of the time they are always a test).  The easy solution I have to a band set of cards is to listen to Travis Tritt’s hit “It’s a Great Day to be Alive.”  The hard fix is changing behavior and a negative attitude.  Last spring I had a lot going on, at times I felt overwhelmed, but I am still here alive and kicking.

          

           After surgery I couldn’t workout for two weeks, which gave me a new friend named crazy (not sure friend is the appropriate term for crazy, but whatever).  I had to find a way to cope with what I was dealing with, so I focused a lot of energy I had towards school.  I was taking four classes and I had the grade I wanted in two of them, and an uphill battle in the other two classes for the grade I wanted.

            For two weeks I basically was a regular college student.  But the brace kept bringing up the conversation of, “what happened to your arm?”  Here I had a choice, how would my attitude be?  Would I be like, feel sorry for me?  This sucks?  Why me? All of these are negative thoughts.  Instead I told people, it’s just a flesh wound.  I also said something along the lines that the brace was temporary and wouldn’t last that long.

            After those two weeks I had another round of tests, and my scores went up.  My brace also came off, only to be replaced by a rehabilitative brace that allowed me range of motion.  Things were getting better.  During this time I talked to my Dad a lot, the one thing that kept coming up in our talks is that “things are never as bad as they seem, and things are never as good as they seem.”  He was right, I was playing the hand that I was dealt, and originally I thought I had a bad draw.  Looking back I realize that I didn’t have it so bad.

            Hitting fast forward now to Wednesday November 20^th.  I had finished a test and I wanted to get to practice, our coach had asked Bill Bails to come talk to our team about what was going on in his life and his mindset.  Bill watched our coach, Doug Schwab in college and is a big fan of wrestling in the state of Iowa.  He is also dealing with cancer.  Bill is very passionate about running and does every day.  He won’t let cancer and the necessary treatments to stop him from doing what he loves, even if it hurts.

            I thought I had it bad, Bill is fighting for his life potentially and he is still doing the things he loves.  The thing that really stood out to me during his speech is he knows he has it, but so what.  He doesn’t want to have cancer but he doesn’t care.  He shared with us that he runs the same day he undergoes chemotherapy.  Which the nurses and doctors have never heard of (wrestlers are still surprising nurses and doctors everyday).  He won’t let anything stop him from doing what he loves, he loves to run and he will find a way to do it.

            I am applying this to my life now, the day after Bill talked I got hurt again.  This time I partially tore my MCL in my right knee.  I wanted to tell my trainer’s so what, I am going to wrestle, but my knee had other ideas.  I can walk but I can’t run, and I don’t want to injure this any more.  I am going to adapt Bill’s attitude towards this.  To me, Bill is a positive speaker; he has faced every challenge in his life head on.  Bill has passions as well, nothing will stop him from running – he’s made up his mind that he is going to do it regardless (Nike should call him because Bill just does it).

Nike could have a great addition if they contacted Bill.

            As for me, I am resting my knee, I will run and wrestle again.  With this being my last year I would rather wait a short time for things to heal compared to coming back to fast and being out longer.  But so what, I know I can do upper body lifts, I can continue to get stronger mentally.  My attitude towards this is totally up to me.  If I approach this negatively, no one will want to be around me.  Good things come to those who wait, and in the words of Dad, “things are never as bad as they seem, things are never as good as they seem.”

            This hand (or more literally, knee) that I have right now isn’t the best hand in life.  However, in the words of my athletic trainer, Troy Garrett, it is the best case of a worst-case scenario.  I don’t need surgery, just time and patients.  The tear is not complete, but on a scale of 1-3 (3 the worst, I wish there was more numbers in the scale so that way my injury isn’t as bad).  My tear is 2, which isn’t complete, but torn pretty good.  The healing process takes 4-6 weeks, but so what.  My attitude will dictate how fast this healing process goes.  I will get better, so until next time laugh often, with everyone, but never at someone.

Riley Banach