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For many, injury can be hellish. Those around you, and those who know you loosely, can sympathise with the pain, the limits on your usual routine, and the low hum of uncertainty they hear in your story.

But for you, at the start of your rehab, still going from consultant to consultant while a plan is developed for how they’re going to work with you to “fix” the ACL, or whatever the injury is, it’s more than the physical pain and limitation, and the reduced activity and contact with people.

It’s a liminal space, a between-worlds that is uncertain and scary, where the ground is always moving and yet not moving much at all. Its slowness is painful, psychologically. And the question that circles quietly at the back of your mind is: who am I? And will I ever be them again?

I can’t answer that for you. No one can. You’re on a path that is inherently uncertain, despite the best intentions of the medical professionals. They’ve seen it a thousand times, but you haven’t. You just have your experience.

The challenge in walking this path is being willing to experience the uncertainty. The doubts, the anger, and the guilt at not being who you were for the people who rely on you. It’s normal.

And over time, as you grow accustomed to the liminal, you might dial in on two questions. Who do I want to be through this? And what’s the smallest act of revolt, in service of being that person, that I can do today? It might be texting a teammate, going along to watch training, or doing the boring exercise properly when no one’s checking. Not because you ‘should’ or ‘have to’, but to revolt against the unfairness, the waiting, the tediousness of it all.

There are no guarantees on this path. But there is agency.