kgoddeyn@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

Most students walked into their first class of the semester on Tuesday with a groan. They wonder how Christmas break passed by so quickly.  Personally, I was giddy that school was starting back up. I needed something to do.

I had my ACL replaced in my right knee over break. I spent the majority of our time-off stuck on the couch. I had to use a Continuous Passive Motion (CPM) machine on my leg for at least eight hours a day. It kept my leg moving for me without any effort on my part. This was ultimately my tether to the couch.

The first few days weren’t so terrible. In fact, I can’t remember them very clearly, but I was on quite a bit of medication. So much in fact that my usual time of four to five minutes for a Sudoku board jumped to an alarming 20-25 minutes. This upset me more than my fresh new scars.

In the beginning, I enjoyed being stuck on the couch. My boyfriend spoiled me terribly the entire time, I was in control of the remote, I got to pick what we had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What’s not to like, right?

After the first week, I assure you, the novelty wore off. At this point, my boyfriend had gone back to work. I had friends and family who would visit, but for the most part, I was on my own for eight hours a day. Even my dog was too busy for me, although it may have been his crippling fear of my crutches that drove him off.

I had an arsenal of activities to keep myself entertained while I was home alone. Despite my set up of books, magazines, crafts, computer, and phone, boredom began to set in.

I consider myself to be quite the busy body. I work as a server, coach a high school cheer team, and go to school full time. My life is usually pretty hectic. During the week, I crave a lazy day where I can drop everything and lay around. I envy people with less of a schedule than me. I roll my eyes when I think they are misusing their precious time.

These days, I don’t think I’ll ever need more than one lazy day a month to keep me happy. A person can only watch so many reruns of “Friends” before he or she will start to lose their mind.

The ability to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night is a skill I’ll never take for granted again either. There’s nothing more humbling than having to wake up your boyfriend for the 15-foot walk to the bathroom at 3 am.

I’m simply too active for things like recovering from surgery. I normally complain about how busy my life is, but now I’ve come to truly appreciate it.  What would I be doing otherwise? Watching television? Facebooking? Texting?

If  anything, I should be happy that I filled my life with so many things, no matter how crazy the schedule is. Life is too short to sit on the couch every night. Get out there and find something that’s just for you. Trust me, free time isn’t all its cracked up to be.