Brilliant, not broken
My relationship to my symptoms changed forever when I realized that my body was working really hard to fight for me, not against me.
It blows my mind how quickly people turn on their own bodies. Skin break outs, joints aching, gut feeling off, injuries that are instantly healed (omg so many people ask why it’s taking so long?!). And suddenly it's: "my body's failing me!"
But what if it never is (or was)?
Your body's responds. It adapts to whatever happens to you, ‘good’ or ‘bad’. And ‘good’ or ‘bad’ cos that’s only as they apply in that moment. Hear me out - I’m 11 months into my recovery today, 11 months since I injured my knee, a freak accident in something I have been doing for over two decades, from a height I easily jump down from even now with a getting strong though still unstable (for what I need it to do) knee! Yes, at the time it was ‘bad’ though not painful (helped by brain tumour surgery and cut nerves haha), it was ‘bad’ cos I was planning to compete in the winter Boulder series in Sydney like last year and improve in my top ten place, and it was ‘bad’ mostly cos everything I feel I ‘am’ is based on motion and this stopped me dead in my tracks.
So how can I possibly see this as ‘good’? Trust me, I’ve struggled with that for most of these 11 months! But I’m coming out the other side. I’ve entered numerous creative writing comps, rekindled a love for drawing and written three (nearly) four cookbooks I’m determined to offer on my website to continue to share healthy in as many ways as I can. And throughout, I can look back at all my @fit.by.nature reels and know I’ve stayed consistent in my strengthening moves, meals and mindset.
While ‘bad’ things happen, I’ve not turned to my body and seen it’s slow recovery as ‘bad’; the way I’m going about life is certainly changed but I’ve started to see opportunities not all disasters:
Inflammation to protect me initially
My patella moving back to centre but how easily it slips out and just how VMO is remarkably magic when it reconfigures!
How leg strength is the biggest secret to longevity and I’ve been given this opportunity to hone in on how with voodooo nerves that don’t feel pain haha
And wider how your body is always protecting you from the stress, the toxins, the late nights, the processed food, the emotional chaos.
The more we push our body away, the louder it has to yell to get our attention. And I’ve been there where, for the longest time, my own body screamed bloody murder to get anyone to hear it (a brain tumour the size of a tennis ball has to be 10+ years in the growing). These yells, these screams through pain and illness are our body's deepest effort to get us to listen, to fight for us, to protect us. The pain, the fatigue, the distress, are all ways our body is trying to get our attention.
In fact, maybe our body’s not fighting at all? We’re in this together and a nice daily chat will keep us communicating. Symptoms aren't a betrayal. They're a conversation. They're your body starting to speak up for itself. And this isn't the time to shut it down. It's the time to listen and support it.
