You get what you have settled for.
You decide where you end up.
When I got out of the hospital, having spent seven weeks in bed, I had no muscles to speak of. My muscles had lost all of their strength. It was early last year that a hospital stay erased all of the strength out of all of my muscles. What happened after that was all on me.
The hospital staff did their best to get me ready. But there was no way that I could understand just how weak I was. Sure, I was taking daily walks around the hospital. But, once I got home, I found out just how deep the loss of strength had hit me. I went to go up a short flight of stairs. It felt like my body was made out of bags of cement. It was very difficult for me to try to go upstairs. I ended up crawling up the stairs that first time. I would get winded doing very simple things. The hospital stay really wiped me out. I didn’t have any physical therapy support once I went home. It was all on me.
I decided I would go for a hike. A simple hike. The hike I chose was one I had been hiking for years before my hospital stay. I could easily hike it before the hospital. But now, it seemed impossible. I started hiking, that first try after the hospital. I went less than a quarter mile. That wiped me out. I had no energy at all. I walked back to the car. The next week I tried again. This time I could go about a half mile. The hike was about four miles roundtrip, with about a 900-foot elevation gain. This was a breeze before the hospital. It took me five weeks of trying before I could make it back to the top and back. I kept at it. Every weekend I would go take the hike again.
It got easier each time I tried. I was deciding just how far my rehab would be. The moment I stopped hiking, my recovery would also stop. If it were to be, it was up to me.
What part(s) of your life have you quit growing? Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually? We decide, either consciously or unconsciously, where we settle. What we settle for in our lives. Our bodies respond when we show up for ourselves. Or sometimes we have a dramatic event in our life, and we fall out of our routine(s). Never to re-engage our intentions. Consider this blog a wake-up call for you.
Later that summer, I completed a serious hike. On a mountain over 14,000 feet tall. It was a very challenging hike. It took everything I had to climb the 2,800-foot vertical climb. But I did it. Then winter came. I put off hiking until spring.
Once spring came, I started hiking again, and again I have realized my level of fitness is all on me. Whatever I settle for, it will stop there. Likewise, in all the other aspects of my life, the same rule applies. I decide. I decide it all. Just like you decided what you have settled for in your own life.
There is a level of comfort that I think we settle for. An acceptable level of growth. But, having made that decision, where it is “good enough,” did we decide that consciously, or was it ourselves giving up on more effort?
The good news is we can always re-decide. You can change your life right now. You can set your own bar higher than it is … right now. Whether you do or whether you don’t is all on you. Don’t tell me your intentions, but do tell you.
Life is good when we can show up for ourselves. When we matter. When how our life looks is managed and decided in an intentional way. You are never stuck. The life you want awaits you now. You choose.
Love You
Les
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