"If that's not life, I don't know what is"

Word of advice: Don't get a concussion in the middle of midterms. Or in the middle of college. Or whenever you have anything important to do. In fact, just don't get a concussion. Ever.

Take a guess at how I got concussed (hint pictured). Did you say hockey? If so, you would be correct.

I finally have an awesome injury story to tell. Thursday, November 3rd, I was body-checked on the ice playing hockey and got a concussion. I didn't even think I had gotten concussed, so I continued to play for the rest of my class. It wasn't until my Religion class that I realized my head hurt a lot, and I couldn't concentrate at all. I started feeling dizzy, and by the time Physics came around, I was feeling nauseous too. Unfortunately, we were doing an In-Class Exam in Physics. Fortunately, once I told Dr. Bergeson about my injury, he let me go home and said I could take the makeup exam once recovered.

So, I went home and checked off a couple more concussion symptoms: sensitivity to light and noise. I slept away the rest of the day and went to the BYU Health Centre to get the injury checked out the next afternoon (shoutout to Dr. Neilson). Dr. Neilson told me I had indeed suffered a mild concussion and prescribed me 4 things to heal: (1) reduced screen time, (2) reduced studying or anything that uses the brain like that, (3) avoiding high-risk environments, and (4) fish.

Apparently, Omega-3 is an unofficial brain healer. Tuna sandwiched up, I spent the weekend doing nothing. I got an extension on my CS 224 Midterm and hoped to be better by Monday to get back into schoolwork.

I was not. So, I emailed all of my professors and the dean of students about the injury. I got many more extensions and started doing some light work until I was fully healed. I tried going back to classes on Wednesday, November 9th (6 days after the injury) and still couldn't do all of them. In fact, I never made it through a full day of classes until this past Monday (12 days after).

And it's kind of funny because as soon as I felt I had fully recovered from the concussion, I caught a cold. In the words of my ward's second counsellor Br. Van Tassel, "If that's not life for ya, I don't know what is." So I'm still sick from the cold, but on a positive note, I am slowly getting better.

I'm also slowly catching up with schoolwork. I have 6 major assignments (projects/labs/exams/essays) due this week that I'm busy finishing up now that I am a whole entire week behind. A whole week. In COLLEGE. As you can imagine, this has been a very stressful time for me.

However, God has not left me alone. I can see how He has blessed me through it all, through the hands of priesthood holders who have given me blessings of healing, as well as friends who have helped lighten my mood when I've started feeling low. And I've learned what it means when Christ invites us to "take [His] yoke upon [us]" (Matthew 11:29). I've shared my burdens with Him and done my best to uphold my dedication to Him. I may not have been at the peak of my spiritual commitment these past couple of weeks, but I have still felt My Saviour's mercy. He takes the weight of my stresses off my shoulders so I can focus on one assignment at a time. I can truly say after this experience that it's because of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's love and support that I have the hope I need not just to give up and stop trying.

Now that we're on a break from school (an official break), I finally have some time to catch up. I know it won't be easy, but I'll work my hardest and hope that if not my efforts, then at least my desires will be enough.

At the end of the day, I am super thankful to everyone who has helped me get through this trial and who continues to help me get through. I have been blessed with some amazing friends and incredible growth opportunities. Don't ever forget that God will always be with you!! and Happy Thanksgiving everyone ♡