Among the many emotions that can surface after an accident, some of them will happen right away, and others might not come up until days later. Shock is usually a feeling you experience on the spot – but anger or guilt may take longer to really sink in. If you are upset about what happened, it’s important to remember that accidents don’t always have one person at fault, so no blame should be put on yourself.
You might be replaying the accident in your head over and over again, making it hard to stop thinking about what happened.
The mental battle
When you are involved in a crash, most people have some negative response to it but do not be afraid of seeking help if this happens to you. You might think that because the injury is minor or there was no real damage done, then everything will go back into place.
Life will resume as normal, but for many more than 30% of those who experience crashes, they can struggle mentally afterward. It could happen with just being an observer too! Although people generally get better from traumatic experiences like these over time, their mental health isn’t always guaranteed, so please talk about how you’re feeling with someone close instead of keeping all your thoughts inside yourself.
Anxiety is a natural reaction to any stressful incident. Sometimes it can be life-threatening, but if not, then you will generally recover from it in just months or even weeks.
The good news about anxiety symptoms is that they are different for everyone. Some people won’t experience them at all while others may have many of the following: worrying too much, feeling very active and jumpy when idle (to keep our bodies moving), being unable to relax well or sleep properly, having no energy levels whatsoever due to constant worry and high activity rates either mental or physical which makes concentration difficult as your thoughts feel scattered around like leaves on the ground during autumn’s windstorm season.
Anxiety is a difficult emotion to deal with. It can make you feel isolated and lead to unwanted thoughts or problems in your personal relationships. Even if the crash was months ago, it’s important for people recovering from one of these incidents that they let their doctors know how anxious or distressed they are feeling. It is important to not be overlooked by medical professionals who may not have taken this into account before prescribing medication treatments like physical therapy.
These practices could only exacerbate an already tenuous situation due to increased anxiety levels caused by being surrounded solely by strangers rather than loved ones every day for hours at a time during treatment. All someone really needs instead, however, are just some familiar company now and then because emotional support goes much farther than any other type of caregiving will ever do.
How to cope with your feelings
Knowing how you feel is the first step in getting past what’s happened. Next, talk to someone about your feelings and be open with them so they can help too!
- Talk to your friends or relatives
Talking about the accident is difficult. It can be hard to remember. But you need to talk about what happened and how you felt when it happened. What you thought, felt, and acted in certain ways after it happened.
- Learn to be a defensive driver
Driving is hard after the accident, especially if it was a traumatic incident or you’re driving now a new car. However, you can lower your risk of future accidents or injuries by practicing defensive driving. Always drive carefully, wear your seat belt- and avoid distractions while you’re behind the wheel: talking on the phone or texting are two big ones. Avoid driving when tired as well; never let alcohol replace sleep deprivation.
- Stay active and exercise often
There are many ways to stay active while recovering from an injury. Your doctor can help you figure out what activities will not aggravate your injuries, but remember that they may be different than before the accident happened and even if it doesn’t hurt at first, overdoing anything is a bad idea since we don’t know how much of our bodies have been changed by the crash.
- Try to resume your daily activities and routines.
I know it can be hard to get back into things when you’ve been in a car accident, but the more we stay active and maintain our routines, the quicker we recover. Even if those first few weeks are uncomfortable or confusing after an injury, don’t let that stop us from getting well.