7 things I want my daughter to know within 24 hours of tearing an ACL

As my daughter continues to process the injury, I would do my best to gauge where she is mentally. Is she still focused on the injury itself, or has she opened a window to talk about the recovery process? If I feel like a window has opened to talk about the recovery process, here’s what I want her to know.

5. Throughout your life you will realize that life is not about what happens to you, but about how you respond to it. This is one of those moments.

6. Recovering from an ACL injury involves the same principles that made you such a great athlete. You will apply the same hard work, discipline, focus and mental strength to get back to full health.

7. At some point you will decide whether or not you want to put the same energy you put into your sport into this recovery. If you choose, you can come back from this bigger, faster, stronger (and smarter, too).

The more technical article will come at some point (I still have my list of 20+ items). For me at least, it is my natural instinct as a parent to help my daughter through difficult moments in life (in my case, at 19 months, it is telling my daughter: “It’s okay, no problem” right after she falls is ). I suppose this is why I moved so quickly to technical information in my first approach.

But for now, in these first 1-7 days after my daughter was injured, I just want her to know that she is supported, and that ultimately it is her choice what perspective she has on the recovery process. Once she comes to the conclusion that she is ready to put her full mental and physical energy into the recovery process, the technical information awaits… and we get to work.