A week ago I have suffered the worst injury that has ever been inflicted upon me in my life.

I fell on my face.

Contrary to what my peers have jested, I did not run into the front door of my house. I tripped over the stairs and landed my face on the front door of my house. A patch of my skin sliced off from my bottom lip along with a centimeter-long gash on my upper gum and sores from my teeth scraping the inside of my mouth.

It is technically my worst injury up to date because I have never bled that much or had that much skin forcibly ripped apart, but yes, it’s still pathetic. My injuries are almost completely healed now, but my experiences from the past week have surprisingly given me valuable life lessons:

What terrified me the most was not having my lip ripped, but that if I had tripped just a bit farther from the door, I would have bashed my teeth on the metal. I know that my teeth are not that strong so it would not have taken much to chip or even knock them out. I was also relieved that I did not land on my glasses because if they had shattered, I would’ve had my eyes cut. My prescription is -9/-12 but my horrible myopic eyes are still better than having no eyes. I kept on thinking of these scenarios and many more and finally realized how important it is to keep our bodies intact.

2. If they freak out, they love you.

Of course, the people who freaked out the most were my parents. They were driven mad by paranoia of me being in pain, having an infection, not being able to eat and having damaged teeth. On top of that, they were visibly hurt when they saw the gash on my lip. My friends and peers were also very concerned over my mouth and curious about how I injured myself. Having everyone care about me and ask about my mouth was a very sweet reminder of how they all cared for me. It was not a very significant event, but it was still touching.

There’s nothing to explain or elaborate on here. It’s just a disaster waiting to happen.