You’re injured. You’re deflated. Your sense of self dwindles and you’re faced with the tough task of re-evaluating yourself. Now what?

I think we can all agree that hurt and feelings of hurt are HUGE attention getters in the human body. We recognize it immediately and focus on it with a sick intent when it happens. Kinda blows but that’s human nature.

So what can we do about it? How can we handle it better?

Questions I had the joy of facing head on when I ruptured my quad tendon and had a badly torn LCL earlier this summer. One minute I was laughing with friends, getting ready to join in on a backyard volleyball game and next I was rolling on the ground in agony while my eyes rolled into the back of my skull and my brain started to black out lol.. No joke, I stepped forward to pick up a ball from the ground and that’s when it happened. Boom. Pain encompassed my entire body and that was ALL I KNEW. Love didn’t matter, appreciation, money, family….there was only pain. Bar none the worst feeling I’ve ever had the liberty of experiencing in my life (and I’ve had some monstrous puke filled leg days that would’ve gotten a sick thumbs up from Dave Tate and Tom Platz themselves)

But you know what’s funny? I’m weirdly grateful for how it happened. Why you ask? Well to be blunt, that shit could’ve happened the next day under a bar squatting reps of 300+ and I’m betting the end result would’ve been a little nastier. Injuries are a Muther (you know) but they teach us some hard life lessons and what I learned that day was that I need to be more attentive to what my body’s trying to tell me when things are off. I need to use the times I had what I thought were “random” aches and pains as signs from my body to change and alter what I’m doing to better accommodate my body’s needs before they become BIGGER issues.

Sensing more of yourself has a unique way of changing your overall pain. It makes you better prepared to handle future hurt. Don’t be a passive observer of your health (I can’t stress that enough) instead, recognize when your body needs attention and deal with it accordingly.

A few things stand out for me when I’m evaluating myself and my hurts and I’d like to share them with you;

1. Be patient with yourself. Healing-like growth, is a lifelong journey. Don’t rush the process.

2. Be grateful for what you have. Even when you think it sucks. There are positive lessons everywhere and shit could always be worse.

3. Don’t be frozen by FEAR. Feel it and do it anyways. The unknown is where growth happens most my friends.

4. Habits and behaviors are the foundation of any good body. So ask yourself, what’s yours made of?

5. Breathing is a catalyst for healing. So is movement. Breath and move. The lymphatic system LOVES that.

Heal and Be Well Friends,

Coach Kolpin