2017 #newyearnewknee

Well, I'm back. It had to happen some time, right?

New year, new me? HA. #newyearnewknee
Let me explain.

Right before winter break, literally the night before, I dislocated my knee. This has happened before and in the very moment I was falling, I was pretty sure it would happen again.
But the length of time it has taken to heal, the confirmation by a doctor and my upcoming appointment with a surgeon makes me unsure.
I've been in straight up denial. And maybe, the surgeon will tell me everyone, my knee included, has been lying to me and I'm totally fine. But the energy it has taken to keep up that charade I could be using to prepare myself for two months of recovery.
A couple of days ago, I cried for the first time about it. It hit me about as hard as I hit the ground a few weeks before that. I may have to suspend my term of service with AmeriCorps. I have never said "bye for now" before, but my dad's common expression may be the only thing that makes leaving my newfound community, made up of brilliant coworkers and resilient students for a while, less devastating.
For the last week I've seen my ceilings cave in on me, when my eyes are closed and I'm trying to fall asleep. My breath catches when a door closes. My body feels stiff in way that no amount of stretching can cure. I don't even have the nail in the coffin, a surgery date, and I feel trapped. I am dreading this extended pause in my life. I see it quietly approaching and I'm terrified.
My loved ones have suggested I make a list of things I can do during this period of time but I have writer's block, something I've never experienced before with list making. I've been avoiding even sitting down with pen and paper.
Often I question myself and my life's purpose. But something I know is that this isn't me. This isn't where I belong or what I'm supposed to be doing. This is a nightmare, this is something I have always feared. I will in reality be incapable of taking care of myself. I won't be enough.
These are things the beast tells me as he pulls me down and keeps me there. These are thoughts that bury me. They keep me under for days, sometimes weeks or months. But in those times, I know it's not something I'm asking for or choosing.
This time I really will have brought it on myself. The beast knows it, I know it. I see him waiting and he is pleased.
The place I live, "the cabin", the little house attached to the big house that is often my sanctuary, it will disappear into the wilderness of my backyard. I will be alone, with only the beast for company. This isn't negative thinking or a wildly irrational fear, this is my life. This has happened before, only the circumstances and four walls are different.
I know this. I know this so well, it is written all over my skin, it's the color of my bed sheets, the sound of rain hitting the cabin's roof. It will be here soon and I would be a fool to try to stop it.

I always return to this place with a bang, don't I?