Episode 95 | AnnKNEEversary – Your Support System

What is up guys? Welcome back to another episode. Today is short and sweet. It’s Thanksgiving week here in the States. And all I’m going to say is life has felt really, really fast. And I talked to clients and friends and family about just this concept of just feeling fast and slowing down. And I think part of it is also a little bit of culture in society, part of it is also the nature of building a business, and part of it is also growing older as an adult and having more responsibilities. And it’s just a very interesting concept. Anyways, with all this to say, I am so excited for it to slow down, not for myself, but just for my wife and for our entire team. And so that is the great part about the holidays. And I love Thanksgiving because we get to focus on what we are thankful for. And this is something that shouldn’t just exist just during Thanksgiving, but it’s a good time to have dedicated time to be able to spend with friends and family, to reflect, and to ultimately slow down.

And this is always a special time for me because it’s also a reminder of when I had my second ACL reconstruction. And that was back in November of 2013. So we’re almost coming up on 10 years at this point; nine years to be exact. And it’s just crazy how much time flies since my last ACL reconstruction. And I always get to think about it and I think about that time of what happened. I had to miss the UGA football game. It was the last one of the home season, as a senior. I was pretty bummed about that, seeing all my friends, just having fun, tailgating. And I had to basically be a bum because I was just out of surgery just a couple of days whenever that game rolled around. And then it was Thanksgiving week, the following week. And if you’re a student out there or having a time around breaks, you get exactly what I’m saying. You have to find a window of time to be able to do those initial post-op days. 

In comparison to my high school injury and my ACL reconstruction, I was just hanging out. It was summer break, so it was actually really nice. This one was a little different because I was in Athens, kind of by myself really. We had the UGA football game, which I had to miss out on. And then after that, I had to wait until my brother got off work in Atlanta, drove over to Athens to pick me up, and we made the five-hour drive home. I remember this very vividly because you’re a couple of days post-op, you are driving home and it’s five hours, not the most comfortable ride.

And also, many of you don’t know, I actually didn’t tell my parents I was having the surgery. And there’s a lot of layers to this. But basically from a financial situation to stressing my parents out, my brother and I are fairly independent in the things that we do, just based on our lifestyle and having parents who immigrated over. There are a lot of pieces to this. But I just remember going home because otherwise, my mom would’ve really panicked. And yeah, I showed up with an ACL surgery and my parents didn’t know. My dad laughed and my mom was pissed, but she was a trooper about it. And it was totally worth the way that we approached it.

Reflecting on this, I realized that I just could not have done this without my support system, especially my brother Rishi, helping me out in this process. From the initial injury to basically putting down a credit card and maxing out the credit card with a $2,500 limit for the initial deposit for my surgery. And then knowing that we were going to have to pay $10,000 in my out-of-pocket max. These were a lot of expenses that were coming out. And we realized I just needed to do it because I needed my ACL at the time for the goals that I had. And we were like, we’ll just figure it out later. And that’s what my brother said, and that’s exactly what we did. I’m super thankful for my brother and for my support system, because I could not have gotten through all of this without him. 

If you are an ACLer listening to this, I want you to take a second, and here’s your action item: Who are you thankful for, specifically in your ACL journey? Who was your support system? Is there that one person who was there that you could lean on who helped you, whether it was from a mental standpoint or a physical standpoint, or both in general? But who is that one person or maybe it’s multiple people that you are thankful for in your journey? 

And for me today, that’s my brother. I couldn’t have gotten through this without him. There’s so many layers to this that I am just so appreciative of. This is the one thing that I want you guys to reflect on. Yes, there are so many things to be thankful for. But today I want you to be able to find that person and let them know specifically how they were helpful to you and why you’re thankful for them, especially on your ACL journey. And they might still be helping you out currently. And that’s where you showing your appreciation goes a huge long way for them. I know it’s cheesy, but I promise you that they will appreciate it. 

And I guess I’m going to have to do this to my brother and I will. I’ll report back, but that’s going to be it for today, guys. Find that person, give them some love, and tell them thank you. I’m thankful for all of you guys and this platform. The messages that I get every single week, the emails, the messages on Instagram, the messages via the podcast, all of these different avenues that people just share. And say, hey, like this has helped me through a tough time, or I was able to take this to my PT. And I was able to get a better rehab process going. Like all of these messages mean so much. 

And that’s the goal with this podcast is to be able to just spread the love, to be able to help educate you guys, to help empower you guys, to make better decisions and inform decisions, not just ones that you are led blindly by, but ones that you are able to feel like you’re in the driver’s seat and you’re able to make very empowered decisions. And that’s what’s important in this space, in this platform. 

And so thank you to all of you for supporting me on this journey. Guys, we are just getting started and I am so excited for the things that are ahead. For the company and just resources and things that we are going to be pushing out and some sneak peeks into some things that will be so helpful for the ACLer, for the clinician, for the coach.Much love to all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving here from the ACL Athlete, from me, Ravi, my wife, and the team, ACL Athlete. We love you guys, until next week.