Last Saturday, my mom left to play golf with my dad as usual on her two happy feet. Around 1PM, I received a call that she was being rushed to the hospital. She had slipped on her way out of the restroom, and fell on her right knee on ceramic floor. When I got to the emergency room, I was told that her knee cap had broken into three pieces from the fall. She needed immediate surgery.

Today was our first visit to the hospital since her surgery. Fortunately, her knee is healing nicely according to the docs. The swelling from the surgery had gone down significantly, so today was her first day with the cast. The doc told her that it was ok to use her injured leg a little bit. I was standing next to her as the doc asked her to stand up and try stepping on her right leg a bit. My mom was reluctant, at first. "You are afraid to use your leg", the doc said. She was still reluctant. The doc continued assuring her that it was ok, and that it would actually help her later in the recovery of her leg muscles once the cast came off. My mom looked at him with a lack of confidence. "Chicken", he called her. She laughed and carefully stood up. She was feeling much better today knowing that she would soon recover, and that she could do without the wheelchair. She is already thinking about going to her store and take care of business a few hours a day.

As I watched my mom, I thought about the many times we get hit by events that injure our professional wellness. It could be the simplest things that catch us off guard and block our ability to proceed and use our full senses. It usually happens to me when I feel so confident that I think that I know so well what I am doing, that I take for granted I can go on with my business without much misfortune. But little things happen, and little things affect us greatly, sometimes. Gatekeepers think you and I are a recruiters and do not let us in, a candidate gets cold feet on that golden account, an inhouse recruiter thinks the candidate really needs 10 years of experience when the hiring manager settles for 4 solid years. All these things that you and I have learned to deal with everyday, sometimes get us. And sometimes, we are afraid of coming back stronger, of challenging what happened, giving it a second, third, forth, and finally recovering from the hit.

My mom broke her knee and was hesitant to use her injured leg again in fear of making it worse - a resistance that would probably make it more difficult to let her leg do what it does best, walking again. What are some falls you experience and make you afraid of doing what you do best? Don't be a chicken, try again, and you will see you will be up on your feet again sooner. For all the beat up ones this past week: CHEERS!