(CNN) –– Jeremy Renner has recovered physically from the near-fatal accident he suffered last January, but the experience has stayed with him.
The “Avengers” actor was crushed by a snowplow near his home in Nevada as he tried to prevent the vehicle from hitting his nephew. He broke several bones, including eight ribs, an eye socket, a knee and a shoulder.
Renner recently spoke to CNN about his recovery from the accident and how his life has changed in the last nine months.
“I feel very blessed and very lucky to be able to stand and walk and live life,” Renner said. “I understand it very, very clearly. My life is really lean, if that makes sense. There is no more fat in my life. I have no time for that. “So there’s something really nice about having that superpower.”
Renner added that his time feels “more valuable” now. He had decided to travel to Charleston, South Carolina, where he formed a partnership with local beverage maker Sweet Grass Vodka, with whom he had worked before the accident.
“I was very clear about how I wanted to spend my time and who I wanted to spend it with,” he said. “To me it feels like a family, a kind of lifestyle that we talk about all the time. And then we have the mind itself, it’s much more the shared experience. And that’s where I want to spend my time.
Renner described the “gifts” he said he gained from almost losing his life.
“It gave me a lot of gifts,” Renner said. “When you’re tested in every way physically, emotionally and spiritually and then you get through it, it’s hard to explain.”
After regaining mobility, Renner appeared and sounded healthy and grateful.
“Endurance. steadfastness. It’s all a mind game. I’ll put it in my back pocket now. I know how to deal with pain. It’s all mind. It’s all in the mind. If you can get through the fog of it all, then I feel very blessed.