A long recovery is lonely because everyone else moved on. Find one person who still asks.

Concern around an injury or an illness is loudest at the start and then drains away, not from unkindness but because other people’s lives keep moving while yours is on hold. That leaves the longest part of a recovery as the quietest part. One person who keeps checking in changes the whole shape of it.

Think of who has asked twice and tell them plainly that it helps, then give them something to ask about: a weekly update, a session they could come to. Stay in touch with the thing you are missing, even from the sidelines. If nobody is asking, say so to an adult you trust.