Today I interviewed my Uncle Kevin. He has always had an active life and seldom sat still for any length of time. This fall while doing volunteer work he suffered an injury that would bring his active lifestyle to a screeching halt and sideline him to the couch for the next three months. He is healing and slowly getting back to normal. This injury gave him a lot of time to think. We can all benefit from the insight that he has gained during this forced downtime.
Kevin has been sidelined by major injury several times in his life. His recovery from those injuries took many months and he had to modify the way he did things, both temporarily and permanently. Because he had been thru similar circumstances before, he had an idea of what to expect during his recovery. His self-talk told him “being restricted in movement is not permanent so pull yourself up by your bootstraps and don’t wallow in self-pity.” "This too shall pass". He was able to tell people that, when they asked how he was doing, but he didn’t really believe it. He was saying it because he knew it was what they wanted to hear and what he should believe, but is was a case of “Do what I say, not what I do”. The struggle to believe his self-talk was real.
One of the hardest parts of his recovery was the waiting game. There was no clear-cut vision of his treatment. He was told to sit and let it heal but, if wasn’t healing properly they would do surgery and add a skin graft. This would mean that after several months of sitting and doing nothing he would start over at square one with more months of not moving to let a skin graft heal. Again, he told people this and shared the explanation of why it was the right way to treat it, but inwardly he was frustrated and angry.
He was cleared by the doctors and told he would not need surgery and he could start to move at his own pace. After 3 months of going nowhere but the couch and the bathroom, that was a slow process. With the waiting game over and a positive outlook, his self talk turned around. He realized that inwardly, he did not believe the things he was telling people. He used food to mute his emotions and that, coupled with inactivity caused him to gain weight. The signs of aging that activity had kept in check, also began to show up. If surgery had been necessary, Kevin would have dealt with it and then moved on with his recovery. With a confirmed diagnosis, happily a positive one, he was able to listen to what he said to others and start to believe it. He is excited to do stairs for the first time again, walk around his yard with a cup of coffee and go for a 5-minute bike ride. He will continue to work up to a healthy routine, but it may be different from what it was before.
Life will continually bring us change and that’s not bad, as long as we are aware that our habits will need to change to coincide with our new normal.
Resources:
www.healthaccountabilitycoach.com
www.facebook.com/houselifestyles
