Sometimes there will be roadblocks in our lives. If all we focus on is what we can’t do, then we will not be able to see all that we can. There will be many things we can not control. But that which we can, we must give ourselves completely to.
This blog is part of my Client Stories - Real people who take on challenges, overcome them, and inspire myself and others along the way. This one, in particular, I pulled from the unpublished chapters of the book I was writing 3 years ago.
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“The doctor said it’s arthritis.”
My heart sank into my stomach. Vesta had worked so hard to get to this point in her training - losing over 50 lbs, gaining strength and confidence, accomplishing things she never even thought were possible. Her current goal was to work on her upper body strength. The arthritis was in her right shoulder.
“Well, ok. Let’s work with this.” That was my first thought after taking a deep breath. This was not going to stop me as her trainer and as long as she was willing, we were going to move forward.
Injuries or physical pain don’t necessarily mean stop. They mean learn.
So we took a mandatory 2 months off from any upper body workouts and worked the core, lower body, and cardio. The pain was in her right shoulder but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do other types of workouts. She could still walk. She could still squat. She could still do sit-ups. And so, she did. We kept training. We kept going.
Sometimes there will be roadblocks in our lives. If all we focus on is what we can’t do, then we will not be able to see all that we can. There will be many things we can not control. But that which we can, we must give ourselves completely to. If our goals are worthy and important to us, then we will.
The power in what we can do pushes us past the limitations of what we can’t. Every. Time.
After time off to rest, Vesta and I slowly began to rehab her shoulder - slow rotational movements with no weight. Then, adding resistance. Then, increasing the pace. All the while making sure she was still working it in the rest of her exercises in her sessions.
Ten weeks later, sooner than we thought possible, she could do a FULL upper body workout! She went back to being a kick-boxing-mitt-work queen and could hold a TRX plank for over a minute. And might I add, she was in her late 50s. Talk about not letting a number define what one is capable of.
All this progress did not happen overnight. It began with a determined spirit to not only overcome but perhaps, more importantly, a commitment to being patient and present to the process. It began with the willingness to keep going forward with a different plan when life happened, one that focused on the “can-do’s” in our lives instead of giving in to the draining list of what couldn’t be done.
There will be seasons in our lives where we have made plans and something happens to make our goals seem impossible to reach. We can give in to hopelessness, throw in the towel thinking there is no way forward, or enter a non-productive pity party with no genuine intention of leaving. OR, we can channel our energy into what we can do even if it’s not originally what we had wanted or currently what we want to do.
When we look beyond the circumstances we can’t control, we’ll find a new path waiting for us to participate and thrive in. Yes, in life there might be roadblocks. But what I’ve found time and time again, in my own pursuits and those of my clients, there’s more than one road forward. Have the courage to try something different in order to get where you want to go. You can do that.
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Photo Credit: Steve Dorman CC By-NC 2.0