Recovering

We've all been there. Defeated! on the ground, crying bitter tears because we failed at something. The marvelous thing about life is that, so long as there is life there is hope, and there is always the chance to recover and make it better. I'm not saying that we should put off for tomorrow what we can do today! Oh no! But when we fall and tumble and get bruised and grazed remember you can always get up and try again!

I've been hearing lately of a lot of people "struggling". They don't complain however; it's almost like they know that to struggle is the only way. They know that as frail human beings we are not perfect and can never be perfect in this state. As such they joyfully struggle knowing that is the only true path to happiness. 

But what about you out there who doesn't know the joy of struggling? I look at struggling as a recovery. I remember in my good ole days of track and field our training sessions sometimes consisted of running six 150m sprints. After each 150m we would have a recovery period; this was usually no more than 2 minutes, but it is was just enough time for us to make it back around the track and start the next 150m. I remember thinking to myself once, "I just want to get these six 150m's over and done with!" At that time I was young and stupid, so rather than taking my two minute recovery I would take a brisk walk back around to the starting line and go again. 

Sure enough I was the first to finish and that was the end of training for that day! By the time I "rushed" through my six 150m's without any significant recovery, I was throwing up at the side of the track and my muscle began to cramp up to the point where I couldn't move. 

I learned a really painful lesson in the importance of recovery time. 

We get worn out sometimes, as we get older they call it "burnt out". Life starts to catch up with you, you're up early in the morning and heading to bed late at night; you're trying to accomplish the world .... on a small island, and frankly you can get overwhelmed and feel as if you're failing. 

That is when your "recovery" is needed. Sometimes when we utilize these planned recovery periods we are in a better position to understand the need for getting back up after a great fall in your life. Planned recoveries are basically planned "pauses", stops in the road toward your goal. Sometimes however we have these HUGE pauses in life, that stump us - I call those "forced" recovery periods. You are forced to stop and then start over. Sometimes they are labelled "disappointments", "failures", "challenges"; whatever these "forced" recovery periods are called we MUST look at them as just that - an opportunity to stop, recover and try again.

The only people who fail are those who don't struggle, get up and try again. No said life was going to be easy but life brings many joys once we see the opportunity in each challenge.