I found an exceptional quote that got me thinkin.’ So, allow me to share it because this is my chosen topic of discussion for today!
Great, right?!?! It sets the stage, with the consecutive layers, links, and connectors, that portrays our struggles as the first steps towards reaching an “anything is possible” level. It conveys our struggles as the foundation from which other useful, valuable, and powerful shifts and successive “floors” can be created and built.
And perhaps these underwater stairs are even more accurate because when we are struggling, attempting to climb these “stairs” – – whether it be literally or metaphorically – – can be quite the challenge!! Kinda like when being in water makes everything we do feel incredibly more difficult because of the natural built-in resistance that water possesses. Right???? EXACTLY!! Moving around in the water and climbing underwater stairs can be very similar to having our own various struggles on dry land and in life!! 💡💦
So, back to the quote!!! I’m going to see if I can follow the line of thought and connectors from beginning to end with regard to my own experiences and knee injuries. Because those have most indubitably (nice word, huh?? 😃) been my major struggles for almost 8 years.
Okay, let’s do this!!!!
PART 1: STRUGGLE teaches you a LESSON.
Alright, so I definitely agree that I have learned many lessons with my knee injuries! Here is my TOP 5 LIST (or the ones that immediately come to mind) for the important lessons that I have learned along my knee injury journey:
1. The entire body is 100% interconnected and dependent on each other for optimum function. An injury, no matter how small, impacts the whole. And not realizing that or ignoring these facts can very well lead to serious injuries and even a succession of serious injuries.
2. If there is pain, discomfort, deformities, or an injury has taken place at the knee, 9/10 times it is due to malfunctions at the ankle or the hip and it has nothing to do with the knee itself.
3. I have learned more than I ever want to learn about knees and this ACL injury!!!! And I have also learned and continue to learn so much about the human body and its “simple” complexities – – simple concepts of a very complex, multi-system machine!!
4. And physical therapy, rehabbing the knee, and understanding all the pieces needing to be addressed in order to be success???? OH YEAH, I have definitely learned TONS about all of that!!!! Mostly in the reverse order of what NOT to do…..😐…..yet those lessons definitely impacted me with a punch!! And are helping me stay on track and remain incredibly aware of my current ACL recovery process.
5. And a very important lesson: I don’t have to always push myself to 150% capacity in the attempt to prove that I am good enough. Which was my mindset before ever having any knee injuries! I was always go-go-go and always looking to do more, be more, reach more. And never allowing myself to enjoy the accomplishments that I had created and fulfilled for very long. I could never👇🏼:
And I learned that it can be just as harmful to push yourself too hard and expecting more-more-MORE from yourself than it is to give up on yourself and not push yourself at all. 💯
Of course I learned dozens and dozens (and dozens) of other lessons since my knee injuries began; however, this TOP 5 LIST were absolutely significant lessons to learn!
PART 2: LESSONS make you WISER.
Going back to my TOP 5 LIST and the multiple dozen of other lessons that I learned and did not mention, had I not been injured, I never would have looked at ANY of them as consciously and as knowledgeably as I do now. All of the lessons that I learned did indeed provide so much incentive to research, explore, find answers, understand, and gain such invaluable perspective and insight about the body-mind-spirit and also on this ACL injury, itself.
I am MUCH wiser now than I was almost 8 years ago, when I was experiencing my very first ACL injury – – and my first major injury EVER – – and having no idea what to do, what to look for, what rehab was supposed to entail, and what to expect through any of the process. Heck, I didn’t even really know what as ACL was at the time or how important of a ligament it really is!! Ohhhh, I totally get it now!! See?!?!! WISER. 😆
PART 3: WISDOM gives you STRENGTH.
Being more knowledgeable and insightful from my TOP 5 LIST and gaining the wisdom that I have through my knee experiences, strength has come from everything that I have learned. This is true!!
This is a quote that I found when specifically researching the ACL injury and what to expect when going through Reconstruction and rehab:
There is A LOT to this injury and it’s recovery, including the many months of PT and training it takes to bounce back to as close to pre-injury status as possible. Which means that this injury tests your physical capacity AND your mental capacity. So, strengths are definitely built within both aspects as you go through something of this magnitude.
AND going back to those lessons of mine, they also become strengths because of the deeper understanding that I have of each item. And I can use those lessons and all that I have learned to move forward with more awareness, confidence, accuracy, and zero-gap rehab. All of these are strengths in knowledge-form that have majorly and positively contributed to these past 3+ months of my ACL recovery.
PART 4: STRENGTH turns into SELF-BELIEF.
Okay, I get how this one is supposed to work! After the lessons, the wisdom that comes from learning the lessons, and the strength that comes from having those lessons as tools you can use……well, then that strength, in-turn, helps you believe in yourself and your abilities. It makes sense, right??
Well, my situation is truly a unique one! See, after almost 8 years of lessons learned too little, too late, my knees have certainly paid the price for my mistakes and poor guidance from PT. So, as I work through this 3rd month of physical therapy for my 3rd ACL Reconstruction, it is no longer a matter of what I can do. It’s a matter of what my knees can do, how aligned and balanced I can make my body, AND how strong I can get my legs, ankles, hips so that I do not suffer the fate of a 4th ACL injury. And let me just say, that potential fate makes me cringe hardcore and therefore the self-belief concept waivers…
I know that I will do everything in my power, using the arsenal of everything that I have learned this far, to be successful and get as far as I can athletically. I ALSO know that there simply is no guarantee that another ACL injury will not happen again and that FREAKS ME OUT and makes the self-belief concept very delicate. I want to believe so much that I can do it AND I also want to make the best decisions for my body and my knees.
It is my mission to only push so far as I know what I can control and slowly ease into the more athletic and agility-driven movements as they come up in my rehab and training. To find that self-belief in myself that I will be able to find that line by listening to my body and my intuition AND STAY STRONG, SAFE, AND INJURY-FREE!!!
PART 5: SELF-BELIEF shows you ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.
Well, you know how I feel about this, based on my comments from PART 4 and the self-belief concept….🤨
HOWEVER, I still LOVE the idea that anything is possible! And that you won’t know how far you can get or where you can go from here if you don’t take action and TRY.
So, here is how I am choosing to see this awesome 5-part quote in relation to my life and my unpredictable knee recovery with its plethora of unknown variables. MATH!!!!
You know the conditional statements, if P then Q or written out as P —>Q?? Well, it just basically means that if concept “P” happens, then “Q” is the result or the conclusion. AND THEN, if there is a Q —>R, and we already know that Q is the result of P, well then logically this shows that P would also result in R, or written as P —> R. And it would continue on like that because they are all roll-offs from each other and therefore the conclusions from each statement is linked to the previous statement. 🤔➗🤷🏼✖️🤷🏽♀️🤔
Therefore, if a STRUGGLE becomes a LESSON, which becomes WISDOM, which becomes STRENGTHS, which becomes SELF-BELIEF, which becomes ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE…..
One could very well conclude from this logic equation that if we have a STRUGGLE, then ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. Or it could be written like this:
P (STRUGGLE) —> U (ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE)!!!! By following the conditional statement, starting with “P,” and then moving five letters down the alphabet line because there were 5 parts to this fantastic quote!!
Genius, right?!?!? 😃😃😃
Who cares, right?! 😄 The big take away from this 5-part quote, and hopefully from this blog post today, is to say that our struggles can serve a greater purpose if we let them, learn from them, and then implement those lessons as we move forward. Gaining the wisdom, building the strength, developing that self-belief, and finding that “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE” mentality!!!
And if struggles are this inevitable part of life and even this requirement to stand up taller, grow, change, and SURVIVE??? Well, then we better make full use of their presence now, from the “falling down” to the “standing up” (and rising strong!!), wouldn’t you say??? 🤩👊🏽🤩💡💪🏼✨❤️✨❤️💡