Backstroke & Breakthroughs – Post #3
After college, I moved to Florida chasing opportunity. A new job, new environment, new beginning. But life had other plans. One unexpected moment turned into a near-death experience. Just like that, I went from active and ambitious to bedridden, for over a year.
People don’t talk enough about what that kind of silence feels like. The stillness. The fear. The questions that come when your body doesn’t move how it used to. I had to relearn everything—not just how to walk, but how to be patient with myself. How to ask for help. How to believe in a comeback when you’re still in the middle of the fall.
When I was finally ready to return to work, I didn’t jump into something new. I went back to the first job I ever had, lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons at the YMCA. Some would call that a step back. But for me, it was sacred. That pool, that water, that sense of rhythm, it gave me my life back.
Starting over isn’t weakness. It’s courage.
That season taught me that your path isn’t linear. And your progress isn’t always loud. Sometimes the real breakthrough is in showing up, quietly, and choosing to begin again.
This week’s takeaway:
Even when everything changes, your spirit doesn’t have to. You’re still you—even when you’re rebuilding. Especially when you’re rebuilding.
Stay with it,
– J.R.
Brufay 
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