April fool's (no)joke empowering life with mindfulness

On April 1st, 2020 I called my mum and said "I have bad news". Worried as all mums might get after hearing those words, her first thoughts were COVID-19 related. When I released her from this thought, she started laughing: "OK, here comes one more of your April fool's jokes".

No, it wasn't a joke although I wished it for a moment. "I've twisted my ankle yesterday", I said. Then promptly sent her a few pictures and all the laughs suddenly switched to guilty. Guilty of what, you might ask? You see, I'm her only child who left her nest in my early twenties, before moving countries a few years later. She felt guilty as she couldn't care for me, help with the basics I suddenly couldn't do anymore. The distance between Australia and Brazil didn't make it easy, left alone the closed Australian borders because of the recently declared pandemic.

Being the oldest sibling of 5, my mum never saw things with light eyes. She was always worried about everyone's well being, had to start running domestic chores early, became a second mother to her youngest brother when still a teenager. In that moment I knew I had to take the load from her thoughts and worries, showing there is always a positive side hidden in the worst events. Ok, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned "bad news" to start with, but with all the pain arising from the injury I didn't really think of a better way to say it.

The twist happened at beautiful South West Rocks, one of our road trip stops while cruising down from Cairns to Sydney. I was getting ready to head down to the beach, watch my family surfing while calling a beautiful friend from my time in California. As I couldn't find my headphones, I stayed a minute behind searching. Stepping down the camper was the last thing I remember before crashing about 80cm down over my left leg. It was painful, one of the worst pains I've felt so far. As I worried about passing out I screamed loudly my husband's name.

Living in a camper has its advantages, specially on the space required to be cleaned up and this was a great help releasing my mum from her guilty. "There's literally 1sqm floor space in need of a clean daily, Australian restaurants are still open for take-away and Mark is doing all the outdoor required work together with the kids", I assured her.

Suddenly these words were key to remote-comfort her in our mum-daughter relationship. Suddenly I realized how a twisted ankle could help me realign, redirect, unravel. Our ankles, although narrow and fragile, supports our body and enables us stand upright and walk. The same way I was learning how to look at my relationship with my mum differently, taking a step back, listening and caring more I also had to literally put my foot up for a few days, let it rest, heal and slowly restart.

Thanks to my twisted ankle, I learned how to look inside and understand my emotional beliefs, helping find more meaning and purpose in life. Today, I am 99% pain free, but the gains from this are totally worth the 1% left pain. I am more aware of the present moment, learned to observe my feelings and thoughts as they come by. Thanks to my twisted ankle, I found the support from a gymnastics club which has now become my family's second home. I've overcome my fears around the trampoline, handstands and so much more I didn't think I could do. I still cannot do many things, including cartwheels, but I've set that as one of my life's goals.

Oh, yes, and at the end, I still got to enjoy the beach and had that long overdue phone call with my beautiful Californian friend... from a completely different perspective.