Every challenge is a gift
A mindset I'm trying on, and an update on my health recovery
Three weeks ago I set this determination:
As long as my fears, pains, and concerns do not exceed what I experienced this week, I will keep pushing through them, choosing to live the life that I most wish were possible. If that succeeds, then eventually my body will catch up with my brain, learning to once more have confidence in itself. And then, finally, there will be no fears and nothing left to push through.
source: I tried David Chapman’s chronic-fatigue-defying six-mile run. It worked.
So far I’ve been doing exactly that, and I’m now on my fourth week of “choosing to live the life that I most wish were possible.” I’m now quite close to my holy grail of running three times a week and climbing/lifting three times a week.
As predicted, along the way there have been some challenges. One day in particular last week I woke up feeling quite tired. My body felt weird and my brain wasn’t working very well. I’d say it was “the normal stuff” but in truth, “the normal stuff” for me varies, and each problematic experience is a little different. I can at least say it was familiar.
It’s natural to see such challenges as setbacks, but recently I’ve been seeing them otherwise: as gifts.
As I understand it, over the last year my body has been conditioned to produce adverse effects (fatigue, inflammation, pain) in response to a wide range of stimuli that occur naturally in a full, engaged life. In order to conquer these adverse effects, I must provide the opposite conditioning - I must live a full, engaged life, with all of its stresses, and then when the adverse effects inevitably show up, I must demonstrate to my body that “actually, everything’s fine.” I can do that by maintaining positivity through challenging periods and by continuing with my intended activities, exercise-related or otherwise.
It’s like there’s a minefield of stimuli, and each time my health fluctuates it’s an opportunity to defuse another mine, to train my body-mind system to skillfully navigate some new area of life. Eventually all the mines will be defused. I expect that to take some time, and in the meantime I will continue to see each challenge as a unique opportunity to move my recovery forward. It’s almost a joyful thing: “Ah, another opportunity. Excellent!”
This mindset can apply to all sorts of challenges, not just my health ones. All challenges are opportunities to demonstrate and learn skillful behavior, expanding the boundaries of what one can do well.
In the end my problematic feelings this week didn’t last long. I felt much better the next day and ran another 10k, my best yet. Now, a few days later, I’ve finished my first week at my gold-standard activity levels. Maybe next week will be easier, or maybe there will be more challenges. As long as I keep doing what I’ve set my mind on, I’ll be happy.
