Seamus Coleman has admitted he got a strange kind of enjoyment out of the rehabilitation from a horror leg injury.
The Ireland captain was on the sidelines for ten months after suffering the injury from a tackle from Wales' Neil Taylor in March 2017.
"It was obviously a tough time," Coleman told Sky Spoerts. "The immediate aftermath of it was probably the toughest, in the first few days after. You've got a lot of medication in the system, in a lot of pain and you're a bit drowsy most of the time so you can get a bit low.
"I think I was in hospital for four or five days before I got back to Donegal for a month and as soon as I got there, it was a case of this injury has happened and it's unfortunate, but the only way I can get over it and come back stronger is to use my mental strength that I knew I had. I looked at it as another challenge that I needed to overcome.
"In a weird way, I really started to enjoy the rehab and the challenge of getting back. I look back at that time as a massive learning phase for me and it sounds mad but it's probably something I wouldn't change.
"It challenged me as a person and it's something I really enjoyed at the time, which sounds quite strange."
Coleman has battled to overcome some critics and become a regular starter for Everton once again under Carlo Ancelotti.
But, despite having made 307 appearances for the Toffees and become their captain, he never takes his foot off the gas.
The Donegal man said: "It's probably the principles I've kept from when I first signed or from when I first kicked a ball - work hard and never take anything for granted.
"People ask you about when you think you made it, but I never think I've made it.
"Every day when I come into work, I want to improve on what I've done the previous day. In my 11 or 12 years, I've had some very bad training sessions and some very bad games but one thing I've never lacked in those is effort and giving my full commitment.
"I think those attributes stand you well and to be at a club like Everton for so long is something I'm very proud of.
"For me, especially in the Premier League now with how good players are, positional sense is so important.
"I got a lot of praise in my younger years for my attacking attributes and as I've got older, it slows down ever so slightly, but David Moyes would have hammered home the defensive side to me as well. I think over the years, I've improved a lot in the defensive side of my game.
"I would say don't hang your hat on one thing - either attacking or defending - I think you've got to work hard on both sides of the game because there will be certain games where you can't attack as much as you'd like and you could have Raheem Sterling inside you and Benjamin Mendy outside you and you don't know whether to go in or out.
"It's about learning the game and learning positional sense, so for me, being in the right position is so important for a full back."
