Lying Low and Holding the Vision

"We grow great by our dreams.

All big men are dreamers.

They see things in the soft haze

of a spring day or in the red

fire of a long winter's evening.

Some of us let our dreams die,

but others nourish and protect

them, nurse them through bad

days till they bring them to

sunshine and light."

- Woodrow Wilson

This is one of my favourite quotes by Woodrow Wilson. I've posted it before, but it has alot of meaning for me. I've been lying low for a little while - in the physical sense that is. I last trained on Tuesday, after one week's break, and by Wednesday I'd crashed. Obviously, I wasn't ready to return to training. This lurgy has definitely stopped me in my tracks. I'm on the tail end of it though. I've just got that annoying phlegm thing happening, where you have to constantly clear your throat, and occasionally coughing it up. And my energy levels still haven't come up to par. So fingers crossed, I'll be able to return to the gym on Monday, fully recovered and rested!

Over the past two weeks I've trained all of two days. Now, the most socially accepted response to this would be to cry in my milk, worry myself sick because I can't train, and dread that I'm going to put on all that weight I've kept off for the last six months (in two weeks), and declare myself a basket case!

But...I try not to go with the socially accepted flow. I realised my body was sending me a message, and that I should take heed and do as 'Munchie' would do...

"Take care of yourself. Once Munchie had his tail run over by a car he was chasing. To facilitate his healing process, he found himself a quiet spot under a bush, and simply rested. Whenever I passed his little nook, there was the Munchster, quietly resting with his chin on his paws, just allowing nature to take care of him. After a few days he was back in action, barking, peeing upon my arrival, and hoping the German Shepherd would kneel just a little more. I thought about what some of us humans might do if we were injured. We might just keep chasing cars; work harder; or blame someone and spend time complaining. But Munchie let all of that go in favor of his natural wisdom. He loved himself enough to rest when he needed it. "

It's quite liberating to do what I need to do and feel no pains of regret, remorse, or guilt for doing what I know needs to be done in order to heal and become strong again. And because I've been down this track of being unwell or unable to do things I want to do, I know that it is only temporary, so I hold that vision in my head. It's that vision of being able to train hard, push my body (intelligently) and feel enlivened, refreshed, and energetic. It's that vision of not only feeling good, but looking good, and knowing that I will get stronger, faster, better. That's the vision I held for all those years while being physically debilitated, and not knowing how and when it was going to happen. So I figured that if I could hold onto that vision for all those years, then two weeks is a drop in the ocean compared to that. The difference this time around is that I know it won't take me 6-12months to return to any semblance of fitness - it'll take me weeks. How liberating is that?

So for those of you who experience temporary setbacks, just keep holding onto that vision of what you will become - because it's that vision that, as Woodrow Wilson says you 'nourish and protect', that will bring it and you to 'sunshine and light'.

Have a great day people's! :)

P.S. I also managed to maintain by ideal weight (actually I lost weight without eating any less or decreasing my carb intake) over the two weeks, so I am happy to report I am back to a comfortable weight of 58.1kg (not that the number is an important thing in the big scheme of things).