You won’t always bounce back. Sometimes you crawl back. Still back.

Bouncing suggests speed and a certain style, and some returns have neither. There are recoveries that take months and look nothing like the ones in highlight reels, where the whole achievement is being present again at all. The pace is not the measure. Arriving is.

If you are on your way back from something, judge the week by direction rather than distance. One class, one session, one shift counts. Let the speed be whatever it is, and if someone compares you to your old self, you can say simply that you are working on it.