A hairline fracture forced me to move through New York differently for eight weeks, and slowing down made me notice things I had been moving too fast to see.

In Episode 53, Everybody’s Limping, I talk about the strange amount of attention I received while walking around on crutches and in a boot, including concern from neighbors I had never spoken to who apparently had been noticing me long before I ever noticed them. I also wrestle with why that attention irritated me, especially when I watched people show concern for my visible injury while walking past homeless people whose need appeared far greater than mine.

Being physically injured also changed the way I saw the city itself. I noticed how inaccessible New York can become when walking is no longer easy, but I also began noticing the people moving through it. For the first time, I saw how exhausted some people looked by life. I was walking around with a fractured foot, yet there were moments when I seemed to have more urgency than people whose bodies appeared perfectly healthy.

This episode is about what happens when pain changes your perspective. It’s about privacy, homelessness, accessibility, strength, selective compassion, and the difference between being visibly wounded and actually being well.

I thought I was the injured one.

Then I slowed down enough to realize that everybody’s limping. Some of us just have the crutches to prove it.