This is the second week of my weight checks. It’s been a rough road the last few weeks. We’ve had emotional and physical challenges that seem to suck the energy out of life. There have been more than a few hard days. I’ll share just two of our challenges. Trust me there is more. Much more. I just can’t talk about them right now. Bear with me as I talk about two of our challenges. They give context and lead me to my point.
Emotional Challenge #1
Whirlwind has his first battery of college tests and quizzes, and quickly came to realize how hard college can be. Lots of phone calls, texts and video calls later, he had dropped his hardest class and feeling better. (He signed up for three heavy hitter classes in his 15.5 credit class load. He’s now at 12.5).
Whirlwind has historically taken failure to mean he’s a failure as a person or something else along those lines. I’ve heard it called a few things like false narrative or negative stories, but this week in the annual FREE Mom Conference I heard Jodi Hildebrandt of ConneXions call it Distortion. She said we are either living in truth or distortion. Once we recognize it we can begin to address the distortions we face and change the narrative.
Example-Being late does not mean you are the worst person in the world. Being late means you are late. (It could be because you lost track of time, underestimated travel/prep time, etc).
Side note–I’ve been attending the free, virtual Mom Conference for years now. It’s the last day for it, but you can still register to listen to today’s talks, and if you want to see all the other goodness they offer, purchase the All-Access Pass before the price goes up. This Conference has been a game changer for me as a wife and mother. Follow my LINK to sign up.
Helping your child from thousands of miles away is challenging and can be just as emotionally draining as doing it in person-if not more. Worry because you can’t see how they are doing creeps in at all times.
Physical Challenge #1
I finally got into the doctor for my foot pain. It turns out my Achilles’ tendons are so tight they are causing bone spurs and distal plantar fasciitis.
Yikes.
I have to wear these Equinus Braces on both legs an hour a day for the next three months. They go past my knees and are to help stretch the tendon. They get adjusted each month to create a bigger and bigger stretch.
Somehow in wearing these, I tweaked a muscle in my inner thigh. It was painful. Really painful. I tried to take it easy on my legs, but come Tuesday I was still sore.
Tuesday is the day I set for this week to workout with my friend who is a personal trainer. Tuesday was supposed to be lower body and balance focus.
I was also so tired. So very, very tired.
I didn’t want to go. I thought about texting and cancelling too many times to count. In the end, though it was hard, I went and thought, “maybe I’ll get credit for showing up and she’ll send me home.”
Nope.
This Week’s Lesson in Overcoming Hard things
I had been approaching this in an all-or-nothing mentality. I was saying “I’m hurt and I’m tired and I want to give up.”
It’s really not all that different from my son wanting to give up when he hit some roadblocks at school.
The valuable lesson my friend taught me was to keep moving. Modify, but keep moving. The glute presses she had me do were so much easier by simply turning my toes inward so I was working slightly different muscles. My side lunges were not as deep as usual, but I held the kettlebell and worked on balancing as I pulled myself to a standing position.
When I started the workout I literally teared up and told her I felt like I was falling apart. She told me everyone-even top athletes-have bad days. The important thing is to not give up. To modify and challenge yourself in other ways. It was hard.
She was right.
And can I tell you how much better I feel this week knowing I pushed through? Between the modifications we made to not aggravate my inner thigh muscle and realizing I need to prop my leg up straight when I wear the brace to eliminate strain, my leg feels so much better!
We had to tweak my son’s school schedule because he was simply taking on too many things. We had to change up my exercise routine to give a particular muscle a break, but work me in other ways.
Hard Things Takeaway
Sometimes when we are trying to do hard things, we focus on one way of getting through. It’s like we’re on a path with a giant boulders from a rock slide standing in front of us. We can’t see how we can possibly keep going down the path to our destination. We can’t see that there may be help if we are just willing to look for it. Maybe there is a small dirt trail around the giant boulder. Maybe someone left climbing anchors and gear so we can climb over it.
We may need to stop getting mired down in distortions saying we’re “not good enough” or “not worthy,” or any other lie we tell ourselves.
We are human. We will make mistakes. We will face hard things. Sometimes we keep facing the same lessons over and over again until we really learn from them. It’s just part of this mortal experience.And remember this a journey.
I’ve learned to do many hard things through the years because of my circumstances, but I clearly needed a modification to my viewpoint and understanding. My son and I came up to our metaphorical boulders and didn’t see a way around them.
There is a way. We have to be willing to look for it.
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My weight today? 218.6. I’m up from last week (Journey With Me to Fitness: Weight Check Week 1). My pants are still looser than when I started, so I’m choosing to be okay. I know this is not going to be an easy journey, but I also know can make it. I’m in this for the long haul.
Be kind to yourselves. Recognize when you are telling yourself a distortion, and have a “Bee”-utiful day!