It's been a minute since I've updated, and since September of 2019, a lot has happened.
A lot.
Since my surgery, I've been rehabbing steadily. My family and I came back to Florida, from Italy, and settled back at home so I could rehab at my old stomping grounds, Florida State University. Between the pandemic and rehab, I've spent a lot of time in America, more than I have in the last 11 years combined. Although the reason for us being home isn't the best (my injury), it's been a blessing to be back. We spent the holidays in Maryland (the first time since 2009), I got to train with some old friends/teammates (shoutout to Julian Vaughn and Jason Rich), and I've made a lot of memories with my wife and kids. That's the short recap version of the last several months, but I'll spare y'all all the details.
During my birthday month, in February of 2020, six months after my ACL surgery, I was fully cleared to play again. My wife always tells me that I heal like Wolverine, and even though that makes me laugh, she's kind of right. I healed really well and really fast.
Life came full circle, yet again, as Dr. Thompson, the doctor who handled my college injury, gave me the green light to return to the court. Hearing that news was priceless! Staying true to my faith, I believe everything happens for a reason, and there are no coincidences in life. I was really thankful to be in Dr. Thompson's office to receive that news..
Some might be wondering why I didn't immediately return to the court, and I hope what I'm about to share serves as a lesson you can take something from.
I was 100% physically cleared to play, but returning to the court and giving 100% to a new team meant making sure my mental game was at 100%, and after having surgery, conquering my mental game became more important than ever.
From increasing my prayer life to doing yoga to reading different books (shout out to my wife, Laci, and my agent, Dave Gasman, for gifting me some great books), I've been rehabbing my mental game.
The expression "if I knew then what I know now" keeps entering my mind. If I could go back to rookie-year Zeke, I would definitely operate from a different mentality, but that's part of growth -- you get better with wisdom, and that wisdom usually comes from experience.
I'm thankful for my journey, and I'm really excited about the future. There were so many times I had doubts, but I had to train my mind to "look at the bright side."
I want to return to the court when COVID isn't such a question mark around the world. So, I'll be on standby, waiting for this pandemic to reach a safe space. Until then, I'll be training hard and training others, too (I've been offering skills training in my off time), and preparing for my return to the court.
Thanks for reading, and I'll be sharing more updates along the way.
In November, I have an awesome opportunity that I'm excited to document, so definitely stay tuned for that.