Ellie | Warkworth.

“This week, I am writing a case report for my college. I’m a massage therapist and I was researching how you can help chronic shoulder pain. So that was probably the biggest challenge this week.

To overcome that challenge, I had to surround myself with people in my class who were going through the same thing. We’re all quite similar minded, so we just give each other boosts of confidence that, you know, we’re good enough to do it. We know what we’re talking about, and I think without the people around me it’s a lot harder to try and get through things.

I grew up in North Wales. I moved over to New Zealand about five years ago, and what’s important to me is actually living life, not just letting it go by I guess. I’m trying to stay in contact with people around me.

One more recent challenge, is that I broke my ankle and I couldn’t work for five months. I think the biggest challenge was trying to understand that I couldn’t actually do anything for quite awhile, and then I had to find out new ways to keep myself going; keep myself positive so that I would heal quicker. I ended up getting in a car and just driving to lots of places in New Zealand, and exploring.

I got off the really bad pain medication. I was on quite a lot of it, and I could think a bit more clearly. I realised I had all this time that I needed to do something with, and I tried studying, but I was still on medication so that didn’t work. I just had to keep finding things to do, and again it came back to the people around me who were really supportive, and basically said just go and do whatever makes you happy.

I figured out what makes me happy was to go and explore. I did that, I just did it, and each time you go and try something new with people to support you, I found that it boosts your confidence more, and you just get a little bit more positive each time. I kind of just did it; going to places you haven’t been before, meeting people you haven’t met before, and just making yourself get out there and do things.”

What, if anything, have you done differently after visiting this site?

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