
After weeks of my walking slower and finding ways to adjust my exercise plans to suit my foot injury I am back to normal. I am feeling good about being able to intensify my workouts and take on more miles while walking and running once again. I did not know that I would miss being active and unlimited as much I did during my down time. I have experienced feeling constricted by circumstances, but for some reason this time it affected me differently.
The difference was in the type of things I thought about while I was down with this injury. I thought about how many times I didn’t run, walk or do some other form of exercise while I was feeling good and able. Not being able to do what I wanted to do hit me really hard. I thought about the days I slacked for no reason at all. I remembered the days I ignored my will to get up and take care of my physical health and thought, now I really did not have that choice. I couldn’t even walk a few blocks at a slow pace without feeling a pain that caused me to shake and retreat into a limp.
I did not want to dwell on the past and what I did not do, but I couldn’t ignore the thoughts I was having. I needed to acknowledge my thoughts and feelings and use them for the future. They would be a new momentum to cease the day and the moment while I could. During the time I was down I did not sit around idle waiting for a chance to get back to normal. I was able to read a couple of books, get some needed research in and plan for January. Although I sat down more than usually, I made adjustments and did what I could to keep my health journey on track as a lifestyle and not a moment. I opted to do seated exercises and combinations of movements that I could achieve while lying on a mat to keep me moving forward and over the hump of feeling constrained.
There are always challenges in anything that must be done or experienced. You will not always be affected in the same way as your siblings, friends, parents, spouse or even co-workers, but how you are affected is still important and relevant. Any part of your wellness dimensions can change abruptly for the good or bad and you have to be prepared for the impact or at least willing to adjust if you desire to thrive. To obtain the lifestyle you envision or to maintain the lifestyle you are currently living you must take on the difficult and undesirable tasks along with the simple ones. You also need to have a tolerance for unwanted change and the ability to know when a change should happen.
I have learned from this experience and that is something I strive to do in all of life whether it is a situation that causes me to feel pain or joy, anger or excitement, I want to learn and have a take-away. I am understanding more and more to take the moments as they come and not to sit on time, it will not be there when you get up.