Barrett said sustaining a clean break of a metacarpal bone meant it recovered sooner than expected.
The good thing about the injury was he was able to keep running and work on his kicking, and he was feeling good and ready to play.
It was frustrating suffering the injury after he played 40 minutes of classy rugby against the Brumbies.
"That's sport, and in terms of injuries I've had a pretty good run. I'm not one to get my head down about those sorts of things."
He said nothing changed with the Blues in a slump, sitting on the bottom of the competition ladder. It was the same as for a team that was winning every week.
"You have to go back to the processes and not get too caught up in the highs or lows. We've addressed what we needed to. We understand what we need to do to get some momentum, get a tighter connection and perform in a way we'll be proud of.
"When there's a little bit of adversity, we've got to tighten up rather than go individual. Now it's about actioning that."
Barrett said his role was still about nailing his job, and the most pressure he feels is what he puts on himself.
"I still get quite nervous before each game and that's because of my expectations, nothing else."
Coach Vern Cotter said they made use of their bye week to debrief their season, especially their last game, and then it was about getting some rest and recovery and freshening up.
"We came back in with some ideas on how we're going to get the reset in place, and we've had a pretty good week so far.
"We need to tighten up, become a tight team again and have a game plan that suits us and something we can put in place without too much difficulty."
Barrett's return was welcome, and he showed what he could do in the first 40 minutes against the Brumbies, while they have also had captain Patrick Tuipulotu and hooker Kurt Eklund return to play.
Cotter said it seemed they had played the Hurricanes a lot recently, and he was wary of their threat.
"They're an explosive team. If they get on the front foot, they're very good. If they can develop their game, they'll be hard work. [Cameron] Roigard is very good around rucks, so you've got to be attentive in all spaces.
"How you hold the ball and how you dispossess the ball to get it back again is important around our kicking game, and then varying our points of attack is going to be key to exploiting any opportunity in the defence.
"They're a very good team and they've got their All Blacks back. Their set-piece will be strong."