Bella Paige was a highly competitive show jumper as a younger girl. And she LOVED it. The adrenaline rush alone might have been enough to keep her going but she loved the competition, the horses, all of it. She planned to compete and show horses for the rest of her life. Sadly, injuries intervened. In any sport having to do with 1200 pound animals you can bet that injuries will come, and often. But highly competitive, driven athletes (even young ones) often don't share their pain with others, nor do they ask for help. So Bella kept competing in spite of accumulating injuries and increasing pain. But, finally, sadly she had to stop and she had to drop out of school to heal.
Such a set back can be emotionally crushing, and it was for Bella. It took a great deal of time, many dark days with little to brighten them, and a vast amount of help for her to come through her emotional and physical struggles. And she's not done. Bella works on herself everyday. She's found dirt bikes to replace horses, which she sees as less dangerous, but still feeds her need for a rush. A lot of what gives her purpose and, I imagine a bit of peace, is her podcast, her mentoring, and her speaking engagements. All of which she does to share her story with others like her (and me) in the hope that we can all gain some small or big insight from her experience to help us on our path to less pain, more clarity, and a life of value.
Find Bella's podcast here: https://www.postconcussioninc.com/podcast and her website here: https://www.postconcussioninc.com.
A Note On The Life Over Pain Theme Music: Emily Bielagus graciously and generously composed the lovely theme music for the Life Over Pain podcast. Find her music at Spotify, wildyawp.com, and reach her at wildyawpband@gmail.com.
Thank you to RØDE Microphones for donating the NT-USB microphone that was used to record this story. You can check it out on their website at: http://www.rode.com/microphones/nt-usb.