The word that I chose for the month of May was the word ‘grace’. The standard definition of the word is to move in an elegant or attractive way. To me, it meant to move through the month with patience and dignity.

Since breaking my foot, the recovery process has been incredibly challenging for me mentally. April was one of the longest months of my life so I wanted May to feel more composed.

I knew what was happening and I was already well into recovery, so it was important for me to focus on keeping calm and being the best version of myself.

Already, throughout this journey, I’ve found it to be invitingly helpful for some self-reflection. May was a chance for me to adopt a new attitude that I can hopefully carry with me for the rest of my life.

Of course, we all want to handle challenging situations well, but we get consumed by the negativity which usually means behaving in a way that we would rather not.

After the accident, I found myself envious of people who didn’t appreciate their full abilities (like being able to walk), and I was frustrated at people for not understanding how difficult the situation was. I was annoyed that architects didn’t take mobility into account when designing houses and I was frustrated at myself for being in this situation – relying on others.

This is where grace comes in.

I wanted to let go of the negativity and frustration at the situation. Instead, using the time to focus on good things.

So, how did it go?

Truth be told, I didn’t change as much as I’d hoped. There was still a lot of fear about the unknown which I struggled to process. However, I did use the time to focus on the little wins and slowly build my life back up.

Most importantly, I gave myself the permission of time. Before the injury, I was constantly rushing to finish a perfect, jumping straight into the next. There were a million things that I wanted and needed to do which meant that whatever I was currently doing, had to be rushed.

But in May, I allowed myself to move more slowly. Not only could I not walk, but with whatever activity I was doing, I stopped clock watching. It did mean that things took longer than before, but it also meant I was a lot less stressed.

There were days where I would run out of time to do something, but I also learned to accept that. There would always be another moment. Cramming everything into one day, and doing that throughout the week meant I wasn’t actually enjoying the things I was doing for fun.

An example was that I built a booknook. I just worked on it randomly over the course of a week or so and then at one point, it was done. I had little goals throughout, such as finishing a certain step, but I didn’t put a time limit on or compare it to the total number of steps.

When I showed my friend, the first thing they asked was “how long did it take?”. I realised that I had no idea. I couldn’t say over how many days, or how many hours I worked on it and I felt so relieved by it. I built it and that was all that mattered to me.

That was when I saw that I had implemented some grace – the word of the month was working!

The thing that I’d like to leave on, is that we should try and be patient with ourselves. We are conditioned (a lot now through social media) that we are on a time limit. Everything has to be done by a certain time, but the reality is, that’s not true.

Of course we are only here for a limited amount of time, but all that means is that we should appreciate every second of it. Take time to sit and enjoy the birds singing. Allow yourself a few hours to take part in a hobby.

Most importantly, show grace to others and yourself.