Be Like Scotty
I talked about gratitude the other day and one person I'm extremely grateful for is Scott Muttdon from Baimed. I didn't know Scott before the attack and his message and offer for support in my recovery is one of the single most important things that I credit in getting me back on track. There’s three reasons this was so key for me and it’s really summed up in everything I reflect on when I talk about resilience.
I consider myself one of the luckiest people when it comes to the support I received after the attack. I often look back to the moment I first looked at my phone whilst still in hospital and had no idea how far the news had spread of my experience. I expected maybe a few messages from friends, family and people I knew but the moment I turned my phone on I was inundated with thousands of messages which at the time led to an overwhelmingly emotional response, I’m not afraid to say that it left me in tears.
But one of the messages sitting somewhere amongst the thousands was an offer from Scott to help me with my rehabilitation. Coming across this message from someone I didn’t know with a tangible offer to help me get back to the person I was before stood out in a way that took me by surprise. What was more to that are the words of advice he sent me when I agreed to work with him after I left hospital. These words are something I mention in most talks/podcasts/presentations I do because I think it’s something so many people need to hear. An excerpt of the message reads below:
Scott Muttdon - 3/4/2016
“Regardless of the prognosis, you’ve got a long road ahead of you. People fail not from aiming too high and missing, but from aiming too low and hitting. Look ahead with determination and set lofty goals”
I think this is a mindset that a lot of people need to take into account not only when recovering/bouncing back from things in life, but when looking ahead to what they want to achieve by the time they’re done exploring this existence. But back in my situation I credited these words with influencing the way I looked at my whole recovery which helped me set goals like getting back in the water and surfing again rather than just being happy with the prognosis that was delivered by the doctors.
So he helped me with my goals and got me on track with my rehab which was obviously a positive, but the support he provided on a daily basis when I was working out and getting treatment went a step further. I wouldn’t consider myself the most talkative person in the room so the early days of rehab were mostly Scott talking to himself, recommending movies and playing great 80’s hits on Spotify but as we spent more time together our friendship grew and he started to become more of a mate rather than a physio.
Support and friendship in that way is a fundamental pillar in many aspects of life but this was a unique circumstance where I trusted this friend of mine with the coordination of my rehabilitation. I often wonder what my rehab would have looked like if I didn't enjoy going into the clinic as much as I did because it was just a fun place to hang out and work away at my program. I think a relationship like this would benefit a lot of people and now knowing the person who Scott is I have seen time and time again that his friendly approach gets the best out of his patients.
I admire people like Scott, I’d love to look back at some stage and know I’ve impacted someone else’s life in a similar way that Scott did to me. At the very least, if I go forward with that intention I am living with a purpose greater than myself and that has enough value on its own.