I truly think that injuries are the most common frustration of people who make exercise a part of their daily routine. First of all, I don’t know ONE person who hasn’t had an injury - so you can empathize with this post. I’ve certainly had my share of them, and when they show up, I agonize over them. The emotional aspects of injuries are the worst part. But how do we deal with this? Should we rest, and how long? Is our body in fact telling us to stop, or should we be trying to maintain a semblance of routine, especially since it takes so much effort to build it? There are many answers to these questions, and each one depends on the person, the injury and the circumstance. But I think there are some very valuable lessons and wisdom to be learned from injuries. To illustrate my point, I’m going to paint a picture (which might sound familiar)…
What do you do when you've lost your motivation? Maybe you went on vacation for a week or two, and came back feeling tired. Perhaps just down (post-vacation blues are a thing!). Or maybe you are injured, and all of a sudden it’s been a few weeks (or months), and you’re just totally unmotivated again. Ugh - it’s the worst. I know what it’s like to struggle to get a routine again. Or maybe your schedule is erratic - you have way too much going on and you don’t have a set schedule, or you’ve been working too much (ahem this is my issue).
It’s so frustrating. I am supposed to be this organized, type-A engineer, and I struggle every day with routine. I had a back injury that sidelined me from all the exercise I loved for over two year, so I know what it’s like to lose inspiration. Have you noticed as well that inspiration or motivation comes and goes in waves?! One day - I’ll be SUPER dead set on eating no sugar, drinking lots of water, and staying away from eating too much. I’ll be golden for a whole day or two, and then the third day comes around and I start telling myself “it’s fine to have a glass of wine or two”, or “what’s a bit of ice cream going to do in the long run?”, or “I deserve a break, and balance is important”. I’m not saying these aren’t true statements, but the next thing I know I’m pounding back a pint of Village Ice Cream (our local obsession), and then I’m in a deep SHAME-HOLE for the next few days and criticizing every fold of skin, and blaming myself for not having the willpower.
This is one of my favorite topics - but one of the most challenging parts of coaching people. The comfort zone is where we live when we don’t feel challenged or stressed, but also where we feel lazy. Routine is the comfort zone. Status quo is the comfort zone.
Now don’t get me wrong - sometimes we need the comfort zone. There are times when we need to stop pushing ourselves, to recover, or restore. I argue though, that some people spend too much time in the comfort zone, and this can really hold you back from your goals. It holds you back from your BEST LIFE. It holds you back from being the BEST person you can be. These are my motivations, because one of my values is constant growth as a person. ..
Kindness is overarching, and more complex and layered than it seems at face value. A simple, true act of kindness (or lack of one) is so deeply meaningful, and has the power to completely turn a horrible day around. For that matter an instance where someone neglects kindness has the potential to derail a perfectly good day for someone. It’s easy to be kind when things are going well for us. It’s easy to be pleasant, easy to give, easy to smile. But what about on our worst days, or days we are distracted with our own world? When we are feeling stressed, lonely, tired? When we’ve exhausted our emotional energy for the day? I’m learning that kindness is a practice that does become easier over time, but what does practicing it look like, and what does it take?
I know this sounds obvious, but things that are obvious often get overlooked in our day to day lives - so I’m going to be very blunt. Procrastination is one of those “silent killers”. It kills motivation. it kills momentum. It kills potential. We all have unbelievable potential within us, but that doesn’t mean anything without action tied to it. Procrastination causes the death of meaningful “intentions” or hopes… click to read more
It's been just over three years since my back injury (omg, does time fly), and I wrote a first blog regarding my personal struggle with healing about a year and a half ago (You can re-read it here). Reading it reminds me of how incredibly difficult that time was for me. It shines through and I was afraid to be honest because I hated how sad i was. I had very real fears that it would never improve, that I would never again be able to hike, run, surf, let alone lift weights or even do anything physical without pain. I remember having months of feeling no improvement, and having very little hope and belief that things would change. The ups and downs were endless, when I had hope and a good attitude, it would be equally opposed a day or two later with sadness, frustration and depression. I mourned the loss of control I had over my body and fitness. I mourned my perceived future "fit" self. I mourned the loss of years of hard work to get to a place where I finally confidence about my body.
I've been away from the online world for awhile, but have been wanting to re-build a presence on social media, to re-invigorate my blog and newsletter, and build the online business that I had always brainstormed. But I keep waiting and waiting, mainly because I want to "do it right". I'm afraid to post photos that don't look picture perfect, and then give up when I feel like I'm spending too much time trying to capture a photo. Ugh, there goes that need for perfectionism again.
The hesitation to start working towards a goal for fear of it not being perfect is so prevalent, and it will kill any endeavour or goal if you don't stop working towards perfection.
I’ve accomplished many things in my life, but this … this was instant joy. And the best part? The feeling was contagious. Completing a simple fitness goal has rippled into every aspect of my life. I feel more confident with everything that is thrown my way.
I've been trying to write this blog for a while. Actually it's been over a year (15 months to be exact, but who's counting), and I've probably drafted and thrown away 5 different attempts. I always write it out of frustration, in an effort to vent or release the pent-up emotions. And then I talk myself out of posting it, either because it's too negative, or un-inspiring, or I fear that the readers wouldn't understand it and then judge me, or I just convince myself that it's too trivial in comparison to people with real problems. Honestly, it wasn't until I read a blog by a friend and fellow local fitness and health guru that I was inspired to write this. She hit the nail on the head with her blog post about her own personal struggle. She reminded me that "no matter how big or small your battle may be, everyone is going through one, and to them, it’s important, regardless of what it may look like to you".
So I was inspired to share my struggle…
I was working out with Leigh the other day, and she made a comment about how happy she was I was working out on my own (I think she said something like “…it’s so awesome you’re doing all of that work on your own now…”). At the time I joked about how long it took me to ‘get it’. I think I’d been working out with Leigh 1 to 2 times a week for about a year before I realised I needed to make time and workout on my own to get where I wanted. Somehow when I started, and I’d been pretty sedentary, I always told myself that “well, once a week is better than nothing”. Soon enough though, I plateaued; I wasn’t losing weight, and I wasn’t getting stronger. About this time I realized that if I wanted to reach my goals, I was going to have to work harder.
![Working [out] with Injuries](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53879570e4b0422ca6697db1/1553571695886-FW6XG96YCM4Z8954HW7L/Screen+Shot+2019-03-25+at+9.41.17+PM.png)
![Just Start...[It's that simple]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53879570e4b0422ca6697db1/1552936461298-JGAA3UX62MJLC08UHX2H/DSC_0455.jpg)
