I found myself in this situation in September 2015. Broken tib/fib and suddenly going from constant activity (work, biking, whatever) to sweet FA with my leg elevated for 20+ hours a day during the initial recovery.
To be frank, the first few days were a bit of shock, someone who has never had to do it might imagine it was suddenly very relaxing to kick back and watch all those box sets you’ve been meaning to start but actually I found myself rather glum as the reality sunk in that this was going to be the next few months of my life. I’m quite a positive person and I found it tough to process at first.
Don’t get me wrong, I certainly sat there thinking how lucky I was and how mentally I’d be dealing with it if I was suffering a more permanent injury. I’m not going to sit here and say it was hard, but certainly that first week or so was an adjustment, not being able to work, not being able to do all but basic house things plus having in your mind the guidance of the doctors; at on point one of them said I wouldn’t be biking regularly until the Spring. I didn’t know that was probably a pessimistic view, so when someone says that it all comes as a bit of a shock.
In the end, once I’d done the usual leisure things to fill the time (I read vast numbers of books, something I don’t find much time for normally but love to read and worked my way through all the films I love the most that I hadn’t seen in awhile) you start to look for opportunities to fill time. I did a few house paperwork bits, admin, non urgent stuff you always put off. I built Lego, I ate (a lot – too much), I made contact with friends I had lapsed contact with, I got hooked on Instagram (and stopped using Twitter), I thought and I slept. I slept a lot!
After I’d gotten a little bored of the fun stuff (and watched every good MTB video on YouTube) I started to think more seriously, I looked at my career, I thought more about the future, I made lists (serious and fun ones) and I planned what I’d do when life returned to normal. I bought a new frame (The Process 134 I’d wanted when I’d changed bikes last and couldn’t quite afford), changed my bike set up a bit and ordered some shiny to suit.
In the end it was about three months of very nearly no activity (lay on the sofa) and two months of slowly building activity to the point where at that fifth month since coming off the bike I was back on and riding and at work.
I look back now, 11 months on and I view it as a pretty positive experience. Its somewhat trite to say but it did change me, and especially changed how I thought about the future. Nearly a year on I’ve started my own business and am engineering myself out of my current career. Would I have done that if I hadn’t had that time to step back and evaluate what was important? I’ll never know, but I’m glad it happened.
I wish you the best of luck, my only advice would be to take it slow (Jim from Enduro Mag did his ankle in just after me and I remember being amazed at his recovery time, I’m too much of a wuss to push as fast as he did and as I sit here I’m happy with the amount of time it took, I’ve had no ill effects since riding), make the most of the opportunity and stay positive.