The Summer of 2018: 2 Fractured Arms and 3 Lessons Learned

Matt Reiners
Sep 4, 2018 · 4 min read

I lead a dangerous life. And by dangerous life I mean, I ride my Razor scooter through the streets of Boston.

On an early Monday morning in late May, I was riding my Razor scooter to work at the Eversound office. (Note: Riding a Razor cuts 40 minutes off my commute time so riding one is, of course, a no brainer.)

En route, I hit a small pothole and fell over the handlebars. Luckily, I have catlike reflexes so I was able to land on both of my palms. POP. There went my radial bones.

I was as fortunate as you could be after a scooter fall. After a quick trip to the ER and the orthopedic, I learned that I didn’t require and surgery or casts, just a long and slow healing process, (Three months later and I’m still healing.).

AUTHOR NOTE: It was later thought I broke a bone in my hand/wrist so was casted for a few weeks while going through the MRI process in late June.

While fracturing both of my arms is less than ideal, I’ve been grateful to learn three very important lessons this summer.

Do something that gives you purpose.

There were a lot of days during the healing process where I didn’t want to work. I just wanted to lay in bed, binge watch Netflix, put up an autoresponder, and get back to people when I felt like it.

I had this mindset for only a bit because after a few hours of resting up reading through client testmonials, I was reminded of all the people we’re helping at Eversound.

I believe that if you’re consistently working on something that gives you purpose, nothing can get in your way. (After all, Nietzsche said: “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”)

It was through client testimonials like this that I am reminded every day the greater purpose we are helping.

Our company, Eversound helps over 400 communities improve resident well-being (35%), engagement (28%), and attendance (20%) during group programming while helping deliver other inspirational moments like these.

Appreciate your caregivers.

I have to give a huge shoutout to my fiance, Bailey. She was a trooper through it all and there were many days where she helped bathe me, feed me, put on my clothes.

I’ve been very independent during my first 29 years of life, but during this time, I found myself feelin depressed and isolated. I couldn’t even help with the minimal tasks around the house and saw the negative impact it had on my fiance.

Fracturing my arms allowed me to gain a new appreciation for caregivers. There are a lot of people being taken care of day in and day out that can’t express themselves appropriately but to all the nurses, care staff, family members, etc. I want to say thank you.

Thank you for all the love, support, and care you put in. Your work is important and I hope it gives you purpose.

Thank you for your time, your dedication, your effort to give a better quality of life to those that need it.

Squeeze lemons into lemonade.

My number one strength is positivity. (My friends tell me this, my colleagues tell me this, even the StrengthsFinder assessment tells me this.) Honestly, I think you could put me anywhere in the word, in any situation, and I’d be able to see the bright side.

Honestly think you could put me anywhere in life and I would be able to see the bright side of it.

After getting my cast for my (thought-to-be) broken wrist, I began to question: “How can I turn this negative into a positive?” “How can I use this opportunity to do something special?”

Outside of being a truly amazing icebreaker at various conferences and networking events I wanted to something extra special.

Cue THE PROPOSAL. I knew that I wanted to ask the girl of my dreams to marry me. Cue THE CAST.

All Hands on Deck!

One engagement, two fractured arms, and three lessons learned- this truly has been a summer for the ages.

What lessons have you learned this summer?

Until next injury!

Matt Reiners

Written by

Only real opinion I hold is that karma is a thing.

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