What Can You Do?
Flipping the script from can’t to can.
So often we focus on what we can’t do without thinking about all the things we can do. And we let this train of thought limit us. For me I’ve been focusing on my inability to run (without pain).
At the end of 2019 I suffered an injury (while running) and I never let it properly heal. I backed off of running, but I pushed other aspects of my fitness (hiking, cycling and lifting weights) as hard as I ever have to make up for it. The result? 4 years later the injury still impacts me and has affected my ability to run pain free.
The last time I ran pain free was the day I got injured, just moments before feeling the pop in my Achilles. Since then it’s been labored run after labored run. I started to trail run to ease the impact. It helped, but not enough. No matter what, getting out of bed the morning after a run was always met with terrible pain. But I kept running, even thought I couldn’t do it.
Part of it was mental. Leading up to the injury I had been racing in endurance events, so being unable to run felt like a loss and I couldn’t help but consistently grieve about it. The other part was physical. Without getting a good long run it I just didn’t feel like I was working.
It took over my life. But I never really looked for alternative. I just kept pounding my head against the running wall. Until recently…
I’ve finally stopped trying to run the way I was. Instead I’ve found or rediscovered activities that I can do instead. Hiking. Walking on a treadmill on a steady incline. The assault bike. Rower. These changes have had tremendous benefits for my overall fitness and mental health.
Physically I’m seeing progress again for the first time in a long time. I feel stronger since I’m no longer in pain, injured and inflamed. I also enjoy the other activities I’m now focused on and it’s given me a wider variety of exercises to get better at.
Mentally I don’t spend all day worrying about my injury and how I’m going to fix it. Stopping to stretch or foam roll in the middle of a conversation or while watching TV. I don’t think about when I’ll be outside running pain free again.
Instead I just focus on what I can do and it’s been healing.
It’s flipped my mindset out of the victim mentally, choosing instead to worry about the things I can control. It doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about running or that I don’t have goals of ever getting back to running. It just means I’m choosing to focus on the opportunity to do what I’m capable of right now. And to let my body heal.
What are you focusing on not being able to do? How is it holding you back? What could you do to achieve similar results? How might the latter influence the former?