A New Thing

For the first 20 years that I was alive, sports filled my days. I liked playing them, a lot. I liked them because when I moved my mind would gather into a tunneled focus. I liked the structure they provided (rules, points, lines, uniforms, etc.) and being able to exert my body in an activity and not be required to use my mind to simultaneously designate structure. I learned how to become powerful, valuable, and creative within those boundaries. I developed a strong eye, and strategic presence. I liked building friendships as we shared a collective goal to grow in our craft. I liked being found dependable by my coaches, and being called higher through responsibility. I liked the short accounts sports had, a loss usually only mattered until two practices later. There was a lot I liked, very little I didn’t. It was one part of my life where I undoubtedly flourished.

When I was 20, I experienced an accumulation injury in my body that changed how I engaged sports forever. Do I still like to play? move? focus? and excel? Yes, definitely. But my liking of those things now is not based on a memory of them, but a testament to actively discovering how I can currently do them without constant pain.

It took time to grow perspective that emphasized what I could do, rather than what I couldn’t. This required disciplining my focus on what strengthened and eased my body, instead of what caused pain. As this grew and I attempted many re-engagements with sports & exercise I was able to build new associations with movement, happiness instead of pain. This only transpired because I continued to move. I had to be willing to change how I moved, and not stop moving.

Sometimes when we lose abilities, we give up, instead of finding new. I get it, it takes courage and commitment. We also have to confront pain and weakness, and grieve what we lost. It’s a lot, but it’s alive. When we give up, we cause greater loss than the original; a part of us no longer receives life.

Have you found the new thing that you can do? or have you stopped moving because you can’t move as you used to? There is newness for you, and an invitation to redefine exercise and live!