Things We Take For Granted

Last night I was running and wound up spraining my ankle.  On the drive home I was thinking to myself how upset I was to be hobbling around and really found myself in a negative state of mind.  Suddenly it hit me; there are so many people that are in my situation day in and day out.  They wake up with aches and pains on a constant basis.

By the time I got home my ankle was throbbing and I knew that it was going to be a couple of days before I got back to doing anything remotely close to the way I was doing it before.  But at least I had that day to look forward to. 

At least I have the ability to go out and really give it my all without experiencing the pain of a body part just completely shutting down on me.  I am just like the rest of you when it comes to working out.  There are some days when I just don’t feel like working out and make every excuse in the book why I will not be participating with physical activity.  Sometimes I even blame a little bruise or soreness for taking it easy. 

This sprain has opened my eyes to what it really feels like to not be able to go as hard as you really want to.  To have a paralyzing feeling, and have something in your body truly holding you back from doing the things you really want to do.

By the time I got into bed I had thought about so many people that were in my life that had either been severely injured or experienced a disease that did not allow them to experience the fun of working out to the fullest.  How dare me make excuses that were not legit only to try to justify to myself why working out is just not a good thing to do for that day. 

Do you find yourself in this situation?  Where you are unmotivated to really pursue the day’s workout.  Where you find yourself making the excuses of why you can’t workout.  Stop and think about the person without a leg who would give anything to run, or the person with lung problems or heart problems who wished they could break a good sweat without health risks.  Think about what we take for granted all the time.  No more excuses.

Own yourself! Run yourself!