Healing

I feel a little behind getting my blog written.  The month of January wasn’t quite what I had expected or planned for.  It was a month of emotions and a badly broken finger/hand that made most things in life challenging.  There was freezing weather and icy roads.  There were dark days and way too many layers.  I had long phone calls and a fair amount of tears.  The end of the month left me feeling exhausted and discouraged.  This was not how the year was supposed to start.  This was not in my New Years Goals.  Instead of getting down about the whole thing I decided to restart.  January 30th kicked off the beginning of our birthday season and it also started my year in the direction I needed.  I saged my soul and brought in some bright and healing thoughts for my New Year.  I cleansed my energy and started with some blue skies and a new attitude.

Even with this new light, this new start, I have been struggling to find the words for this post.  But ultimately, this is about healing.  We are all healing from something.  There are physical challenges and injuries that pull us from our goals.  We’ve got the emotional turmoils that throw us off our game.  No matter what we plan for, no matter how well we protect ourselves and no matter what preventative measures we take, life has a way of throwing us a curve ball.  And somehow we take it in and find our way to the other end.

It would be easy to lay out all the ways in which life gets us down.  But what makes my athletes great, and what I find most important, is the way they show up.  The athletes I work with come in during all stages of healing.  Sometimes these injuries are obvious and visual.  Other times it is deeper than that, it lies in a mix of emotions and hardships.  Sometimes we know and sometimes we don’t.  But they show up and they put in the work.  And even though some days are hard, the support and the self care these athletes invest, goes a long way.  Exercises can heal.  It can push illnesses out and pump blood and oxygen through our injuries.  Exercise can give us a release from our minds, alleviate stresses that overwhelm us and help build our confidence in the person we are today.

I’m in healing.  My hand has limited my ability to workout, but it hasn’t stopped me.  My hand makes working with athletes challenging but not impossible.  Sometimes I need a reminder that even when things aren’t quite right, they may not be wrong and a little creativity can go a long way.  I have to remind myself that I get to go to work every day, being at home wouldn’t be an option.  I have to remind myself that I get to workout, it might not include many deadlifts or chin ups, but it is still time in the gym.  During the worst of it, I had to be creative and do my best not to throw a tantrum.  During the best of it, I had to accept that showing up and putting in the time is better than not.  It’s not been easy and at times I have felt completely exhausted by what I can’t do.  But I show up.  I go on my daily 5:45am walks, I go to work, and I just do the best I can, being thankful for everything I get to do and what I have been able to accomplish.

Its not just our injuries that need time to heal.  Our bodies and minds need to heal.  Our motivation and drive need a break and time to recover.  We all push ourselves in different ways.  We all challenge ourselves.  And sometimes we just need some recovery.  Healing can be a form of active recovery.  We don’t need to give up on our routines or our enjoyments.  We just need to be sensitive to where we are right now and do the best we can in that moment.  At some point, everything may need a little healing.  Life can be hard.  Life can shift and change and challenge us in ways we aren’t familiar with.  The unknown is hard place to be.

We all experience pieces of life that throw us off track and sometimes into places we never wanted to be.  We experience the death of loved ones, cancer, heart aches and breakups.  We experience little emergencies that throw off a day or a week, we experience major injuries that throw us off for months or years.  There is very little control we have over these parts of our lives.  Showing up for ourselves in any capacity is one way we can.  Even if its a solo dance party at 6am.