Time to throw the towel in

@poly

Really interesting post.

One of the things I really miss about football was the social side, the camaraderie. I trained with the same team for about 10 years, twice a week with a game on Saturdays. I’ve become much more introvert over the last 10 years and perhaps I have really suffered because of it. Cycling has become almost 100% solo for me now. Deep down I struggle with that.

I never mentioned the mental side of the injury. It seems stupid to say that I feel that all I stand for as an individual are my hobbies, and when a big chunk of that is taken away or removed altogether, it has a big toll on me mentally. I’m a very withdrawn person now because of my anxiety.

I’ve never thought about another social type sport tbh. Cycling and football have always been the ones. Running was part of football of course, but I only ended up running as a hobby really through meeting my girlfriend.

FYI, I am awful at swimming, I wouldn’t be drawn to watersport stuff.

I never mentioned the mental side of the injury. It seems stupid to say that I feel that all I stand for as an individual are my hobbies, and when a big chunk of that is taken away or removed altogether, it has a big toll on me mentally. I’m a very withdrawn person now because of my anxiety.

This is huge; I’m somewhere near that myself.  Not anxiety, my big issue is chronic fatigue (aka Long Covid).  All my hobbies and fun activities have been whipped out from under me – making music, playing the drums, DJing, going to the pub, riding my bike, having a social life, going for hikes with MrsDoris, etc etc. And I could stick it out for a while, just ploughing through it by looking forward to the day when I would be better and could get back into all that stuff. But it’s been 4.5 years now and it’s starting to look more like I’m living in denial, watching my life drift away. I was 40 when I got COVID.  I turned 45 last week and I’m still not better. Will I still be twiddling my thumbs waiting when I hit 50?

So I’ll start seeing a counsellor soon.  And, based on absolutely no experience whatsoever, I’m wondering if that might help you too?

I’ve given up on seeing a counsellor. Have tried many times in the past (10+ years) and it didn’t work for me for whatever reason. Maybe I need to try again. But I hate to be a burden, it’s been such a long time since I broached the subject with my GP.

I have a friend with long covid much like yourself. He has really struggled. Hope things improve for you. He bought a nice road e-bike to help with getting back out again.

I never mentioned the mental side of the injury. It seems stupid to say that I feel that all I stand for as an individual are my hobbies, and when a big chunk of that is taken away or removed altogether, it has a big toll on me mentally. I’m a very withdrawn person now because of my anxiety.

I know it seems stupid to say this stuff, but honestly you probably won’t be the first person to have had that sort of conversation with them, and you certainly won’t be the stupidest thing they see/hear today.  It MIGHT just make a difference to the approach they take, or where you sit on a waiting list.  I’ve no idea if they would try to push the drugs/counselling route but you can say no.

I’ve never thought about another social type sport tbh. Cycling and football have always been the ones. Running was part of football of course, but I only ended up running as a hobby really through meeting my girlfriend.

I guess that’s the other option is to look for a “hobby” rather than a sport.  It won’t directly help with the fitness but it might help with the state of mind, social interaction etc.  You should be able to find a group of cyclists at almost any fitness / technical level but I’ve never found it that easy – and if you actually want to enjoy talking to them as well that makes it even harder.

FYI, I am awful at swimming, I wouldn’t be drawn to watersport stuff.

So am I, the idea is usually not to fall in!   I tend to gravitate that way so probably not best placed to suggest others, but you certainly won’t be alone in being a middle aged man who’s been injured out of their “main sport” and now looking for things to fill their time.  I dare say there’s a whole volunteering for the scouts thread just itching for you to get inquisitive…