Sep 8, 2022
“I’m walking again, I look like a normal person, I feel very able. But internally, the struggle is, I am not where I used to be. I cannot do the things I love. I cannot run. I cannot jump. So, I still feel the injury is a cloud hanging over me, and I've still got a long way to go. It's an interesting feeling and mental battle that I have with myself on a daily basis.”
It was January 2022, and Shelli Epstein was poised to make a big comeback. After an injury and then the pandemic, she was overjoyed to return to the stage as Running Woman in Cirque du Soleil’s touring show Luzia. Icing on the cake: The production was opening at the Royal Albert Hall in London, where she’d fallen in love with the circus as a child.
Her performance involves a discipline called the Russian swing, where, as Shelli puts it, “the margin of error is minimal.” In the private preview performance, her trajectory was just a few centimeters off. She landed on the swing, but in the process, tore ligaments in her foot and damaged her knee.
Eight months later, Shelli is still very much in the process of recovery. In the meantime, she’s published a book, taken sport psychology courses, and reconnected to who she is, outside of her performances. On this week’s episode, she shares her journey, including the role *our* book Rebound played in helping her through the tougher times.
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