If, when I started training at 12 years old, you would have told me that my early 20’s would bring significant struggle with injury and disability, I very well may have stopped lifting. You see, at the time, my goal was to become a competitive powerlifter or to compete in bodybuilding when I was older (does that mean I’m “older” now?). These things are still possible for me! Bodybuilding competitions feature folks with a broad range of abilities and physical uniqueness. Furthermore, there are many strength competitions that allow participants to engage in what they’re able to do or that have modified events. At the time, in my inexperienced and more naive position if I’d known about my coming disabilities in advance I likely would have said “it won’t be possible for me to do those things if I am disabled.” I imagine that I would have missed the joy of 12 years of uninhibited lifting, been more likely to die from my pelvic crush injury, and I wouldn’t have pursued education and employment in the training field. How tragic that would have been.
"The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley.
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
-Robert Burns, To A Mouse
My point, friends, is that we never know what kind of chaos or adversity might come our way. If we allow ourselves to be filled with dread, to worry, or to make too many predictions about the future we risk ruining our today and our tomorrow.
If you hang around my blog regularly, you likely know I’m a big fan of goal setting. I am, undoubtedly – plan to succeed and take the actions necessary to do so, but don’t be so attached to the outcome that you can’t adapt. And don’t be so obsessed over the risk of failure or interruption that you demoralize yourself.
Lately, being inside and working from home exclusively I have been feeling some dread and anxiety over the idea of a hip replacement surgery and what hospitals will be like in a year, having dread about the idea of living with a painful hip that requires medication for a year and the organ load + pain I will have to go through. Today, I chose not to dwell on these things or to let my fears demoralize and demotivate me. Today I chose to train, for now. What are you choosing today?
