It was like someone had switched my brain with the brain of someone wicked, someone evil, and I was in constant internal battles with myself.
It took me three weeks after the impact to fathom that I could have actually sustained another concussion — this one would be my third major one over the span of 10 years.
But I pushed myself because that’s what I’ve been taught to do. As a competitive athlete all my life, I’ve learned how to push through injuries, playing both basketball and softball in high school and college.
I’ve had dislocated shoulders, high ankle sprains, and eye surgery. With a partially torn Achilles and a slipped disc in my spine, I was determined to finish my senior year of college basketball regardless of the pain I was causing my body. Physically, I wouldn’t let anything stop me from playing.
Not even collecting one too many hits to the head playing basketball and softball.
So this time, once again, I pushed myself.
For the next three weeks I continued going to work, all the dark emotions still very much on my mind. I tried my hardest to ignore them.