A few weeks ago I hurt my back while working out. (Don't blame Crossfit. It happens.) These weeks have really been an interesting journey. Emotionally I have been all over - in disbelief that it happened, sadness at feeling like I may be losing the muscle and strength I have gained over the past few years, desperation in dealing with the moment to moment chronic pain and relief at getting a chance to step back and rest.
Lessons I have learned while injured:
1. It is REALLY easy to get used to not working out. You all know I am a workout freak. I love Crossfitting and was doing it 5 days a week. Now I am back to having it scheduled on my calendar and thinking "well I could work out now or I could go and do X,Y and Z". I now have a little more sympathy for those who fall off the wagon or have never started working out at all.
2. There is no "there" to get to. I believe good work outs consist of lifting heavy things and sprinting. Neither of which I can do right now. It started me in a bit of a panic. Who am I with out that? How the hell do I work out any other way? Breathe. Its going to be ok. A few months of not doing that is not going to suddenly make me an obese couch potato. I am working on shifting my perspective to joyfully explore what my body can and can't do now and discover new ways of working out.
3. Maybe 5 days a week of Crossfit is too much for me. This injury has also helped me refocus on dealing with my fatigue. It is something I have been trying to trouble shoot for years. Ideally I am hoping it can be solved through good nutrition, proper sleep and stress management. I met recently with a paleo nutritionist to see if there was anything else I could be doing in regards to heal possible adrenal burn out. Her first recommendation is not to Crossfit 5 days a week. Ugh. What? Of course at the moment I am doing 0 days a week. Part of my plan going forward is 3 days a week and long walks on the other days. THAT is going to be a big adjustment.
4. Focusing eating on nourishing my body is so much more fun than thinking about fat loss. I have been using this time to maximize on my nutrition. I am making an effort to try and give my body all the nutrients that it needs to heal the best it can. That has felt so good having my eating just focused on just nourishing my body... which of course does my brain pretty good as well. Meal times feel more relaxed and oddly my cravings for wine and sugar have really dropped off. huh.
What have your injury or down times taught you?
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
The Happiness Assumption
I am not sure if many of you know but I am participating in a coaching group this year with a small group of women and it is headed up by Jill Coleman, who if you don't know her... find her and see what she is all about. My life is better because she is in it. Anyway... each month we get a book to read. This month it is Being Happy by Tal Ben-Shahar. I am only a little ways through the book at the moment but I am blow away by two concepts and I can't wait to see what else I learn from this book.
1) Assumption of happy people always happy - The author talks to a wide spread assumption that he covered through talking to people about happiness. It is the thought that "that truly happy people are some how immune from feeling sadness, fear and anxiety of from experienceing failures and set backs in life. " It is a sign of perfectionism.
Now I would not have consider myself a perfectionist. If you know me I try to be a comfy, casual, roll with it person. However, I have spent many an hour beating the crap out of myself for feeling more sad or moody than I feel like I should with the amazing life I have. In essence, I completely buy in that happy people should always be completely, floating on the clouds happy. Huh. Will need to think and practice around this one a little more.
2) The book provided an insight to me on at least one reason Crossfit makes people better. - "Taking on challenges instead of avoiding them has a great long-term effect on our self-esteem more than winning or losing, failing or succeeding. Paradoxically our overall self confidence and our belief in our own ability to deal with set backs may be reinforced when we fail, because we realize that the beast we had always feared-failure-is not as terrifying as we thought it was. "
I get a chance at least several times a week to feel afraid. I see a workout that makes me start thinking "I can't do this, it is too hard." I get that deep pit in my stomach that makes me want to run, get in my car and go home. But I do the workout anyway. Some days I just barely get through, some times I thrive. Either way I know I am a better person for it on the other side and I am happy that I made the choice to stay. It is good to have it confirmed that facing challenges regularly is good for the self-esteem.
1) Assumption of happy people always happy - The author talks to a wide spread assumption that he covered through talking to people about happiness. It is the thought that "that truly happy people are some how immune from feeling sadness, fear and anxiety of from experienceing failures and set backs in life. " It is a sign of perfectionism.
Now I would not have consider myself a perfectionist. If you know me I try to be a comfy, casual, roll with it person. However, I have spent many an hour beating the crap out of myself for feeling more sad or moody than I feel like I should with the amazing life I have. In essence, I completely buy in that happy people should always be completely, floating on the clouds happy. Huh. Will need to think and practice around this one a little more.
2) The book provided an insight to me on at least one reason Crossfit makes people better. - "Taking on challenges instead of avoiding them has a great long-term effect on our self-esteem more than winning or losing, failing or succeeding. Paradoxically our overall self confidence and our belief in our own ability to deal with set backs may be reinforced when we fail, because we realize that the beast we had always feared-failure-is not as terrifying as we thought it was. "
I get a chance at least several times a week to feel afraid. I see a workout that makes me start thinking "I can't do this, it is too hard." I get that deep pit in my stomach that makes me want to run, get in my car and go home. But I do the workout anyway. Some days I just barely get through, some times I thrive. Either way I know I am a better person for it on the other side and I am happy that I made the choice to stay. It is good to have it confirmed that facing challenges regularly is good for the self-esteem.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)