Unfortunately, as much as we would all like to be prepared for the challenges that life likes to throw our way, many of them can end up coming like curveballs and hit us out of the blue.
There are ways to help prepare for accidents and injuries, but if you’re reading this, it might too late for preparation. All you can do now is cope as best as you can.
Injuries can affect us not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, professionally, and even financially.
For that reason, here are a few tips to help you come out on top at the end.
Acknowledge that the road to recovery may be long and slow
We all want to recover as quickly as possible when we are knocked down.
However, if you don’t acknowledge that you may be recovering for quite some time, then you can try to rush it, injuring yourself and your self-esteem, even more, when it doesn’t work. The single best way to make sure you recover in the shortest timespan possible is to “hurry up and wait.” Keep the doctor’s advice in mind and follow whatever recommendations they have. Don’t try to rush back into work. Take your medications as you are prescribed. Even if you don’t like your treatment plan as is, it’s better to talk about it than to simply ignore it.
Protecting your job
One of the biggest worries that many people will have following a serious accident or injury is “how is this going to affect my job?” This should not, in a just world, be where our priorities lie, but it’s a sad fact that it often is. Many employers could put your job at risk if you take too long to recuperate after an injury, but you are legally protected against that. It’s important to understand exercise your worker’s rights. In particular, you should make sure to apply for leave for medical reasons and ensure you notify your employer, keeping a record of your notification. Every employee is entitled to twelve weeks unpaid leave, providing you work with an employer who employs fifty or more people.
Making ends meet
If you are put out of work by an injury, you might be relying on what savings you have to make ends meet, and how long can they last? Social Security disability benefits may be able to cover you, but you need to apply for them as soon as you can and understand that the process can take time. In the meantime, websites like NeedyMeds can help you find some financial assistance to help you cover the costs of living while you’re waiting for other funds to come through. There are a lot of financial assistance grants as well as non-profit organizations on the local, state-wide, and national level and you should take the time to look into as many as you need to.
Addressing your medical bills
As mentioned, your finances can be affected by an accident or injury, as well. If you don’t have an emergency fund saved up or health savings that will take care of the medical bills and your insurance won’t cover all the costs, you must consider your options. Options like Wise Loan can help you get enough to cover those bills so you can pay them back in installments later. It’s less common, but the practice that treated you may be willing to help you pay as part of a long-term payment plan, as well. Start exploring your options as soon as you can so that the costs don’t keep growing in the meantime.
Restoring your Independence
It’s important to have realistic expectations of how quickly you can recover from any accident or injury, as well as what level of recovery is possible. However, if you are able to cover the costs, then there may some options when it comes to helping you get back on your feet all the sooner. Occupational therapists and physical therapists like the Rehab Center can help put together recovery and exercise programs that can help you heal and restore your independence more quickly, providing your injuries fit within the realms of what they can help with. It’s a good idea to ask your doctor about whether or not physical therapy would help you recover, and how much it might be able to help before you make any decisions.
Holding the right party responsible
It may very well be the case that you’re not the one who is responsible for your own accident or injury. Should that happen, then there is a chance you may not have to pay for your own treatment at all. If your injuries are caused by someone else, then you could have a legal case against them, and teams like Begum Law Group may be able to help ensure that you put responsibility where it aims. Not only can this help ensure that you don’t have to pay for the actions of others (more than you already are), but it can help restore a sense of closure or justice that can easily seem lacking when you initially get injured.
Don’t be afraid to lean on others
Not everyone has a strong support structure, which we have to acknowledge. However, if you do have family and friends who are willing and eager to check-in, chat, and help you in whatever ways they can, try to be willing to accept them. It can undoubtedly be frustrating to be dependent on others but isolating yourself from others can be just as bad, if not worse, for your mental health in the long-run. If you don’t have a great support structure around you at the minute, consider looking for some of the online helplines that can give you someone to chat to, and even access to some counseling from your own home. Having someone to talk it out with can help a great deal.
Allow yourself to feel
Experiencing negative emotions like fear, anger, anxiety, and the like is not a positive experience, by any means. However, it can be important to allow yourself to feel pain in times of suffering and stress, such as following an injury. Trying to push your emotions aside or to ignore them can be more dangerous than you might realize, however. Unaddressed trauma is a major cause of long-term emotional health issues, such as anxiety disorders, chronic stress, depression, and more. Again, it’s better to have the room to express these emotions than to try to deal with them alone, as well, to consider looking for a support group.
Be active and avoid too much rest
With this point, you have to remember the caveat that whatever your medical team recommends takes priority over anything you read here. If you’re prescribed a certain amount of bed rest, then make sure that you take it. However, talk to your doctor about getting active, about moving around, and about whether or not you should avoid spending too much time lying down. When it comes to a lot of injuries such as back pain, the medical consensus on bedrest has changed, recently. Now, we acknowledge that lying down when you’re dealing with a musculoskeletal injury can actually make the problem worse, sometimes, rather than always being something you should rely on. Talk to your doctor about safe exercises to help you recover your physical independence.
Mind your coping strategies
In order to deal with the stress that can come as the result of an injury, it’s not uncommon for us to develop coping strategies. These can be distractions or ways of altering our life experience so as to help us get a break from any trauma associated with the accident. However, there are plenty of negative coping strategies that you should be very careful about. While they might seem like they will help in the moment, itself, strategies like turning to drink, drug abuse, or self-harm are always highly likely to lead to long-term health impacts. They also deepen the cycle of negative thinking patterns that lead to the coping mechanisms in the first place.
Reward yourself for any progress made
Whether the progress is you reaching a level of physical independence that you haven’t had in a while, having a good day mentally, or simply being able to pay off your medical bills, it’s important to reward yourself and be positive about that success. It’s easy to think “I’m still not where I used to be” which can lead to long-term negative thinking patterns that can make the emotional recovery from things that much harder. Finding ways to reward yourself for a step in the right direction also helps motivate you so that you can continue to make progress and get back as much of your life as you can.
Injuries can knock you for six when they hit you out of the blue. Hopefully, the tips above help you regain your balance and get back to life.
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