Tuesday, June 18, 2013

A Little Motivation - By Cathy LaClair

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

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