(Thanks for your comment on yesterday's post, Laura. Yes, I've got to allow for the normal events of a normal life and realize that I'll survive ... )
Today I remembered a great guy I saw at the Cataract Gorge in Launceston, Tasmania. He was wheeling up a very steep hill in a wheelchair, using only his hands (and strong arms and shoulders and back) for power.
His strength and determination were amazing, and he curtly rejected an offer by a well-intentioned person to give him a push. He most definitely did NOT need a push, and even more definitely did not need the pity that other person thought was kindness.
The wheelchair guy is a good role model for me, a reminder that achieving my fitness goals isn't always going to be the straightforward plan-attack-just-do-it program I wish it would be.
(I'll post some photos of us in that park in Launceston sometime soon. Meanwhile, here's the park's official Web site with some great photos of the whole park.)
Each of us is facing our own challenges in reaching the tops of our mountains. Your story reminds me of a woman I see around our valley. She, too, uses a wheelchair, and often rides the bus. I've seen people offer to push her, and she always refuses. One time she was crossing the street and the light was turning red and a man came up behind her and, without asking, began pushing her. She was mad and let him know that his help was not wanted or appreciated. Some things you just have to do on your own; other times there is grace in humbly accepting help when it's offered. I guess it's like that Serenity Prayer that ends with a request for wisdom to know the difference.
ReplyDeleteWhich brings me to another topic. I've realized that I need to be humble enough to accept the invitation and challenge to follow the eight-week program. Like Laura, I don't like tracking my food and avoiding sweets and all that. And I'm afraid of the commitment. But I realize that what I'm doing isn't going to crack it. So, please, count me in! I've started today tracking, so I'll be ready to go with the challenge starting next week. Let's do it together!
Woot! Woot!
Chasing kids around is the best training program there can be, right? Unless we want to go back to the era of ranching and farming and pioneering - a time when "exercise" was probably a word, but not a concept that was understood because it wasn't needed. Life was exercise, right? Now with all our modern-day conveniences, we have to carve time out just to maintain a minimum activity level. No wonder we struggle with everything else like food journals and giving up those things we love.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy tiny violin compositions, or at least acknowledge that they're necessary sometimes to move on to the greater symphony.
Great job, everyone!