Let it go

This sounds a lot easier than it is. I am a person who likes to be in total control of my life. This started from a very young age and I was raised by very strict parents. My whole life was pretty much charted out for me: be a good student, get into a good college, find a great job, have a successful career etc., etc. etc. Well as most you know, life doesn’t always turn out like we planned. I chose to step away from a successful career when my Dad got sick. It was an easy choice for me to make. My Dad sacrificed a lot so that I could have a successful start in life; I was happy that I was able to give something back to him.

We can’t always control what happens to us in life, but what we CAN control is how we react to it. A few recent incidents brought this home to me.

My recent foot injury has really thrown me for a loop. The recovery has been a lot longer and more painful than I anticipated. All throughout the process though, I am very, very grateful for my great surgeon. Any post-operative discomfort is nothing compared to the pain I was feeling before my surgery. I can’t control the pain in my foot, but what I can control is how I react to it. I am having a lot of fun coming up with new and innovative ways to exercise that are low impact, yet still challenge my body. I have rediscovered functional fitness. Functional fitness is working your muscles together to train them for every day living. Things like planks and squats are good examples. I also decided to treat myself and bought several new exercise DVDs from one of my favorite exercise instructors, Tracie Long. She started with The Firm many years ago and her workouts were what got me started with exercising.

My volunteer project is coming to an end. We still have a lot of work to do before we can wrap it up. Before this year, I would have been totally stressed out about this and lost sleep. Well this time, I am thinking of this as just another puzzle to solve. I work with a great team of colleagues and I am looking forward to brainstorming with them how we can get everything done. In the past, I probably would have dreaded these last weeks since it meant a lot of hard work.

What about you; how have you been able to let things go by changing your perspective?