How an encounter with a friendly person made me see myself differently | Sinéad Stubbins

It's peculiar that we think certain elements about ourselves are set in stone, even if there's no real evidence to suggest that

For the last year I've been going to the physio once or twice every week, a by-product of having hips and knees that tend to seize up like elastic bands that have been pulled too tight. What began as a demoralising routine of strength tests and painful needling, has recently felt triumphant: I'm completing increasingly strenuous rehab exercises - successfully completing them. I'm not only in less pain, but I'm stronger than I thought I was.

You're the dux of rehab," my best friend Brigid texted when I bragged about graduating to another difficulty level. I was in no position to disagree.