Tuesday, April 17, 2012

You'll Never ______?

Sometimes life stinks. I'm sorry, but that's the truth. Anyone who doesn't admit that freely is someone perhaps you shouldn't be within a mile of until after they self-destruct.

Everyone has problems. Sometimes those problems can seem very "big." Sometimes they can seem very "small." Many have said that the problems in my life seem "big." They are big. To me. However, I'd wager everyone's problems are big to them at one time or another. Or maybe more often than that. And probably more often than they're willing to admit in polite company. And even in not-so-polite company.

Whatever the case, one of the best cures I've found is learning to do or working towards and achieving something that someone once told me I'd never be able to do.

For example, due to health reasons and missing or trashed parts, my orthopedic surgeon told me at 21 that I had a 30% chance of not walking again after the series of surgeries were completed to rebuild my knees. So I asked him about running (I was being thorough). After he was done laughing at me, he said "I'm sorry dear, but you are never going to run. Ever."

Guess what I do for exercise every morning at 7 a.m.?

And the first mile I ran? I told everyone and their dog about it. Literally. I told one dog about it. I'm pretty sure they thought I was a lunatic (except my family members who knew what I went through to get to that mile). In fact, I know several who knew I was a lunatic. People run, right? Not this people. This people got around on crutches and in a wheelchair for a while.

Then I limped around and got mad. That wasn't any way to live, right? I wasn't going to be a prisoner in my own body. Forget that business. So I found a doctor who would send me to a physical therapist who was also an athletic trainer in Houston. I did hydrotherapy. Lots and lots of hydrotherapy. Every. Stinking. Day. I swam. I walked. I biked. I did weight training. I started with step aerobics and walking.

Viola!

Oddly enough the same methodology seems to work elsewhere as well. I look around and don't like where I am with _____. Someone has told me I'll never do _____. (Oddly enough it's sometimes me, but not always). And guess what? I don't have to be satisfied with that! So I get ticked and start chipping away at it. Until I do it! Ha!

You will never know if your life is going to be filled with a lot of blanks you can not fill until you try.

Some of Kate Earl's lyrics from "Learning to Fly" reminded me of this:

"When you lose your way
When you can't escape
You feel just like a prisoner
Of all the world says you will never be
That's when you can't give up
Gotta hold on tighter now than ever
The answers will find you when you believe
And I feel it's light
Now I found the spark
That was missin' in my life.

I earned these wings
I was not born with them
And it's no accident
How I walked through
The rain and the fire
Cause it taught me how to love
And it taught me how to fight
And finally I'm learning to fly."

Worth a listen. A happy song for people who know how hard it can be to be happy sometimes.
Scat

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