Six weeks ago, Ben Gravy underwent surgery for a complete bicep tendon repair. The injury happened in March, when he detached his bicep from the bone while attempting to stall in a backside barrel.
The incident illustrated how quickly an injury can change one’s life, as Gravy was forced to pivot from his usual breakneck pace of vlog posting to focusing on his recovery. Since then, Gravy’s channel has been a little quieter, with the novelty wave hunter posting best-of content and non-surfing adventures. “I’m kind of just getting back in the groove of things,” he explained in the latest video. “I wasn’t feeling too hot. I was a little depressed and I didn’t really want to vlog, so I ended up putting up some old content and kind of just struggling through a couple of videos.”
However, with this latest update, it seems like Gravy is well on the road to recovery. “We just walked out of the doctor’s office, six-week post-op visit. It was great,” he explained from the parking lot. “At this point, strengthening begins. There’s certain stuff that I’m like ‘I don’t think I’m ready,’ like I opened the fridge, turned the sink on, loaded stuff into the dishwasher. My left arm is becoming part of my life again.” He added that he’s finally been able to stop using a brace on the injured arm.
Afterwards, he included a flashback to mid-February, when he had a surf session the week he got injured. He called it a way to “remember how good life was, before I got hurt.”
Despite the bittersweet inclusion of the days just before his injury, Gravy’s video manages to put a positive spin on the situation. “In a weird way, not that I want to be injured, obviously, but this injury has been good for me,” he concluded. “I’ve been able to kind of recalibrate and reflect and look at my life – not only appreciate everything that I’ve done and every choice that I’ve made for myself, but I get to look at the future and say ‘This is why I want to do this. This is why I want to be here.’ I want to be here for the right reasons. I’m here for the stoke. That’s always been my mindset.”
