Motivation…Gotta get me some
of that!!
“People always ask me how I
stay motivated. Some friend’s have even
claimed that I am one of the most motivated people they know.” (Use as a starting quote?? Or, remove entirely. I think the latter.)
I once had a friend who was
training for her first Iron Man. She
swam several times a week at the same pool where I was taking swim lessons. I was surprised when one day she told me that
I was a source of motivation for her! Although
grateful for the compliment, I wondered how this could possibly be true. Where was the catch? I was nearly 50, learning to swim laps for
the first time in my life while dealing with a recent injury. She on the other hand, was about to become an
Iron Lady.
Up until my 49th birthday,
age had never bothered me. I was happy as long as life wasn’t too bumpy
or at least if the bumps weren’t too mountainous. It was that year my right IT band and various
places on my right leg started bothering me.
Most of my friends said that it was “just aging” and “get used to
it”. “So you won’t be able to do the
things you used to do, so what?” So what?
I was only turning 50 and certainly not ready to check into assisted
living. I felt I was in pretty good
shape. I’d worked with a trainer a few
times a week for almost two years. I ran
regularly and used the rower. I was a
strong intermediate skier. I loved to
hike and bike. How could all of this
suddenly be over?
After about six months of
denial, a few different doctors, physical therapy and begging someone to send
me for an MRI I finally found the right doctor.
(It is common with this injury to take on average two years before
getting the correct diagnosis.) This doctor looked at my x-rays, did an exam
and told me that most likely my labrum was torn and that I had some arthritis
in my hip. I’d need surgery but should
have an MRI to confirm the diagnosis.
Finally an MRI! Yea!
My official diagnosis in
non-medical terms was labrum torn beyond repair, beginnings of arthritis and an
oval rather than round hip ball.
However, there was good news too.
The hip had good spacing in the joint so I was not a candidate for
replacement…yet.
I had two choices; sit back
relax, severely curtail my physical activity and wait for my joint spacing to
deteriorate until I’d be a candidate for hip replacement. Or, I could try a relatively new surgery
that would shave my ball to round, replace my labrum with a cadaver labrum
(another good reason I am an organ donor), clean out the arthritis (as best
they could) and get micro fracture (they poke holes in the bone to re-grow
cartilage in the joint). Recovery time would
be 10 – 12 months.
It seemed like a no brainer
right? I’m married and have twin boys
who were 10 at the time. I wasn’t ready
to sit around and watch them have all of the fun? Besides, how healthy would it be for my mind
and body to hang stagnate in pain waiting for my joint spacing to
deteriorate? So yes, from my perspective
it was a no brainer. There was one
problem; it was September and I could not get in for surgery until late
February. The doctor was confident that
my spacing wouldn’t deteriorate too much during the wait. By this point I was frustrated beyond
belief. How can I possibly wait another
five months I thought? It was 155 days
away…it seemed like forever.
I had a few options. I could slump into depression until the
surgery or I could make an effort to be as healthy as possible, physically,
mentally and spiritually. I chose to
live life instead of counting the days until my surgery.
In my opinion, the biggest
part of motivation is choice. I could choose
to feel sorry for myself or I could choose to see this as an opportunity for
personal growth.
What is one of the first
things you do if you are looking for a new job?
You tell your family and friends.
You build a network. It is the
same with health and fitness. I told everyone about my five-month wait period,
not so they’d feel sorry for me but so that they’d support me when it got
tough. I had a wonderful amount of support, especially from my husband and
children. I know the road would have
been much more difficult without them.
It’s times like this it’s
important to build your network. They
will help you be accountable. Comprise
your network strong, supportive people. Choose
people who live their lives the way you want to live yours.
Another way to stay motivated
during an injury is to focus on controlling what you can. I asked my doctor to give me a prescription
for physical therapy so that I’d know what to work on to prepare for both the
surgery and recovery. I also didn’t want
to make the injury any worse.
Thankfully, I have an excellent trainer who offered to go to physical
therapy with me so that he’d get the instructions directly. My PT (physical therapist) was open to
working with my trainer and their partnership was invaluable both to my
pre-surgery preparation, and post-surgery recovery.
Strive to find opportunities
in difficult situations and surround yourself with positive people who cheer
you on. My trainer never complained and
made our rehab workouts as fun as possible.
That encouragement and support helped me stay on course. It was still difficult to be unable to do the
things I really loved like running and skiing but the focus had to be on what I
could do, not what I couldn’t. I needed to
have hope and faith that things would turn in my favor. I knew that I might not get back to all my favorite
activities but I was confident that I could still lead the life I wanted.
A few months earlier I’d
worked with a nutritionist. I met with
her to prepare my mind and plan for the lack of physical activity during the
recovery. I knew this would difficult,
as I like to eat a lot of food.
Normally, I would be able to work off the food through exercise, but not
anymore. I needed a good plan. It was essential that I viewed this step in a
positive light, as an opportunity to learn to focus on healthy eating with
appropriate portions. At times this was even
more difficult than the physical restrictions.
My story would not be
complete without discussing my faith.
Often when difficult things happen people think that God doesn’t care
about them or that He is punishing them.
I believe that life happens and the difficult parts are intended to help
us grow in our relationship with God and to help us become the best version of
ourselves. I used this opportunity to
expand my conversation with Him. I make
the time to work out almost every day. Why
wouldn’t I make the time to talk to and listen to God every day? Once I opened myself more fully to that
relationship the burden of the injury was much easier to bear.
So…how did I end up in that
pool with the Iron Lady? I’d had to stop
running months before my diagnosis and needed some cardio to keep me sane so I
decided to use this injury as an opportunity to learn to swim. I’d always wanted to swim so I hired a swim
coach and learned to swim laps. That’s how
I ended up in the pool every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 6:15. Now remember my friend is training for an
Iron Man; that is 2.5 miles in open water.
By the time I get to the pool she has already been swimming for up to a
half hour. Initially, I struggled to
swim more than one lap without drowning!
How could I possibly motivate someone with so much drive? How? By being there! By not giving up and staying positive. She said she had to come because she knew I’d
be there every morning even with my hurting hip. This in turn motivated me to be there. I used to tease her that if she didn’t keep
showing up, one day the old lady with the bum hip would lap her!
Another way to motivate
yourself is to find someone at the gym, pool, track, etc…that you see often
when you are doing your fitness activity.
Do you think they have anything on you?
Maybe they have some goal that keeps them going, maybe they enjoy the
exercise or maybe they see someone else getting out there and that keeps them
going. You don’t need to compete with
these people. You need to share the
energy! Two peoples’ combined energy is
more than that of one person’s. Use that
energy to encourage others and you will be surprised at how much of that
encouragement comes back to you.
Working out and eating
healthy is an investment in your future.
The truth is that we don’t know what is around the corner. We can’t predict our health and the changes
in our life. Things happen, stress,
injuries, diseases, typically things we can’t control. We will however handle all of life’s bumps
and even mountains a little easier the more we take care of ourselves,
physically, mentally and spiritually. One of the keys to healthy living is
staying motivated. Make it your choice to be a source of motivation to yourself
and to others. You will be surprised how
much lighter you feel.
Cathy LaClair
