Saturday, November 6, 2010

Everything Happens for a Reason

My Dad once told me, "everything happens for a reason".  At the time, I thought that was the stupidest advice ever.  Why in the world would God or "whoever" break my ankle and not let me to go Nationals?  That's totally dumb...  But I never forgot that advice, and over the years, I also have come to believe 100% that everything does happen for a reason.

I look back on things that have happened in my life and almost always the good things happen after a bad thing.  No matter how bad the bad thing was (broken ankle, surgery, no Nationals) something good came from it (more motivation for the next season, kick ass, make the US Ski Team).

Being a believer of the "everything happens for a reason" philosophy, makes the bad things much more tolerable, because sometime in the future, either near or far, something good will come of it.

Such is the case with my current situation.  Status- still injured with pain in my Achilles.  It all started with a small tear in the tendon and I made it worse by continuing to ride and walk around.

I gave myself a week of rest to heal, then tried to ride again.  I couldn't even make it 10 minutes without pain. Shit.  The CX season was finally beginning to ramp up and I really wanted to race. I had told all my sponsors I was going to race and there was no way I'd be able to race.  My body was simply saying "NO".  So, after a few days of thinking about it and talking to others, I decided to "pull the plug" on the CX season and focus on getting better.  Right away a big weight lifted from my shoulders and I instantly felt better.  I was tired, I was tired of traveling and I was tired of riding hard.  I needed a break and injuring my Achilles was my body's way of giving me a break.

Now, I can rest, heal, and enjoy being at home.  I used to take 4 weeks off every October.  I wouldn't ride my bike and I'd eat and drink whatever I wanted to, guilt free.  It felt good to have a "free" month to do or not do whatever I wanted.  For the past two years, I have not had that break. Between racing CX, coaching, and general enjoyment of my bike, I have not taken the time off that I have needed.

Everything happens for a reason.  It took injuring my Achilles to realize that I'm tired, I'm unmotivated for racing and I need a break.  I have to admit, I'm extremely relieved to have guilt free time off. Yes, I'd like to ride or hike or take the dogs for a walk, but mostly because I feel like I'm getting fat after two weeks of doing nothing, not because I am ready to "train".

Everything happens for a reason.  I've gotten to know our FasCat PT, Ann Trombley, and I really think of her as a friend now. I've gotten to experience Acupuncture, which is a blog post all in it's own, and I'm actually looking forward to Nordic skiing.

I really hope my Ahcilles heals soon, but I'm not stressing about it.  When my body is ready, it'll come.
For now, I'll enjoy Jackson the Moe Dog's company as he keeps my knee warmer, that I use for icing, safe.

3 comments:

Narmeen said...

simple and nice! do comment on my post also and recomand to others

MrDaveyGie said...

Interesting thoughts. I have lately come to the same conclusion. I realize that if I didn't have to deal and heal with injuries that come and go, my bicycling would become all consuming.

Dream Valley Ranch said...

Thank goodness J Moe is keeping the knee warmer safe from Lucy :)

I like your dad's philosophy-I tend to try to look at the world that way, too! And in your case it helped you find chocolaty beer-cool!!