Link to Local News Article
Ever been hit by a motorcycle?
It sucks. I would not recommend it.
Three weeks into my first year of college, almost 2 weeks ago, I was hit by a motorcycle while crossing the street. It wasn't the biker's fault. I wish I could say that, truthfully, it wasn't anyone's fault, it just...happened. But it was my own fault. I wasn't paying attention. I walked when there was a bright blaring sign that screamed at me, "Don't walk, you dumbass!" I was deaf to the sign's cries, and so I got hit by a motorcycle.
I never thought something like that would happen to me. I've had a pretty lucky life. I'm told stories by my friends about getting hit by cars and being in car accidents and breaking backs and cracking skulls and somehow surviving to be a (mostly) well-functioning human being. My worst story was that I had to have surgery to fix a weird muscle in my eye when I was 9.
When I was hit, it was like being mentally struck by lightning. It was a shock to my system that I had actually just been hit by a freaking motorcycle. Once I had stopped tumbling and rolling all over the road, I sat up and screamed for two minutes straight. In my head, I was shocked. I wondered if I was dreaming. Sadly, I was awake. Maybe not wide awake, but I was definitely awake.
Fortunately, there were no major injuries to me or to the biker. I just had a spine contusion in my lower back (bruising and swelling), along with a couple of other scrapes and bruises. Oh, and, of course, some mild psychological damage. I have a slight fear of the dark now, because it happened at night. I can't walk on a street by myself at any time of day. My anxiety, which was already bad before my body was rammmed by a motorcycle, has increased. The worst thing is the sound of screeching tires, because that was the last thing I heard before I was hit. If I hear screeching tires, I literally flinch.
The accident was a wake-up call for me. Since starting college, I hadn't been as careful as I should have been. I wasn't used to having freedom. I wasn't used to being able to walk around town freely, and buy whatever he hell I wanted at Wal-Mart. My family was getting annoyed at me, my boyfriend was getting annoyed at me, but I didn't realize what I was doing. I didn't realize how much I was abusing my freedom.
I learned the hard way that what I was doing was dangerous. I wasn't being careful. I wasn't being thoughtful. I wasn't being aware.
I was lucky, Very lucky. I could have been paralyzed. I could have been killed.
But I can walk and talk and function. Walking is currently difficult, but it's easier every day. Every day, the pain is a little bit better.
I've realized that I need to be careful and aware. I'm changing how I live to be safer.
Do you know how hard(and painful) it is to take a shower when you can barely walk or even stand up straight, and there's nothing to hold on to to make sure you don't slip and fall?
Very hard.
In other words, lesson learned. It's time to wake up.
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