I imagine myself walking down a road. My car has some sort of mechanical failure and I’m somehow left stranded without a cell phone. I’m not in NJ where gas stations are plentiful but back in Texas where gas stations are miles apart. So I walk to the nearest gas station which happens to be 8 miles away.
Around 4 miles I imagine myself shouting: HOW COULD THIS GET ANY WORSE?
And out of nowhere it begins pouring rain and wild turkeys appear out of nowhere. So I run the last four miles in the pouring monsooning rain (while being chased by turkeys.)
Thanks for that one life.
Last Wednesday I sat in my house pretty upset. I had just returned after an exciting weekend with my family and now I was back at an empty and lonely house. I asked myself…how could this get any worse?
My answer came two days later when I woke up with a possible stress fracture. After getting a small arch injury, I ran a few weeks completely pain free…only to wake up with a stress fracture in my other foot. I have no leads, no idea or anything about how I could have gotten this fracture.
When it rains…it pours…I guess.
Eventually that rain must stop though. My entire life won’t be filled with rain clouds.
I went to the doctor earlier in the week and had an X-ray. Not surprisingly the x-ray showed nothing. Normally x-rays don’t show stress fractures for a week or two (until they are healing). The doctor wanted to do more tests since he was confident I do have a stress fracture. We are currently in the process of waiting to schedule an MRI or ultrasound test. Honestly, I’m not going to run at all for a while so it makes no difference to me. I’m going to rest either way. It’s the matter of “officially” diagnosing it but official or unofficial rest is only going to help.
A lot of people have asked how I’ve stayed so positive right now and honestly I haven’t. I’m in a pretty low time in my life. I’m not going to whine all over the internet but the fact is: this stinks. The only thing I can do right now is continue to stay busy and truck through this situation. I am pretty mobile (IE: I don’t lay on my couch all day eating Doritos and crying). I have used this time to engage in other interests, hang out with more friends and do other things. My life does not revolve around running (and never will) so I find and have other things to do. Do I wish I could run and that my finance was home? Of course, but it’s getting through these tougher times that makes the better ones…better.
Eventually the rain will clear, my umbrella will dry and I’ll be back to where I was. Being negative is not going to help the situation. I must look toward the positive and look towards the future. I have always said “your life is a collection of events and stories, not an individual chapter.” I am still sticking to that motto and come November or December, I will be ready again to conquer the world.
Or at least dry out my umbrella.
Questions for you:
Do you find it pours rain occasionally in your life?
How do you stay positive in tough situations?
These rainy days happen to me too. Sometimes it really pours. When it happens, I just think of all the things that are good about my life, and I find it helps the rain clouds part and the sun get through. It has to rain for things to grow. I think you have a great outlook. Keep your chin up, your time to kick ass will come! With lots of rest, it’ll come sooner than later.
That makes complete sense and thanks for your advice. I would rather look at the positive versus think of the negative!
Unfortunately it has poured since June 2013. I was pretty negative until June of this year. I finally realized that being negative wasn’t helping.
I got wet from February until about June of this year. I feel like I’m drying off now, but I’m always looking to the skies to see if there are storms off in the distance. We get through it because there’s really no other option. Keep up with the Fancy paintings…very therapeutic!
Sometimes it sure does…. I have found it helpful to make a plan to get where I want, to surround myself with positivity and encouragement, to focus on all the good I still have, to try to help others who aren’t as fortunate as I am and to look at all the wonderful things people do for each other. If nothing else, just get from one breath to the next and things will change…they always do. Sending good thoughts!
Rihanna circa 2007 was playing through my head while reading this…just btw.
Life is not always rainbows. We can’t have the rainbows without a little rain.
I can vouch that sitting in bed and doing nothing but eating M&Ms, crying, and napping is a solid strategy…for all of about 6 hours. As much as I love being #BootBuddies #4Lyfe I really hope you heal up soon. Not being able to run blows.
I hope you heal quickly as well Victoria. We can remain boot buddies throughout the winter…since we will need cold weather boots. Maybe rain boots next spring? ha ha
I’m basically the worst at staying positive in tough situations. That being said, I have found that complaining about it doesn’t accomplish anything, so I just keep doing what I need to do to make things better. I do mope and get upset and angry about it, but it doesn’t stop me from making progress, if that makes sense. I also realized after I got divorced (and lived to tell about it) that the times in my life that have been the most trying are also the times when I learned the most about myself and grew the most as a person. It’s helpful to me to look back on those times when things are bad and know that no matter how much it sucks, I’m going to come out a better person. That’s pretty much the only thing that I find comforting. I hope things get better soon!!
I think daily goals or just things to do that you know will make you cheer up are helpful. And I know that when I get down, I often retreat into my turtle shell but that never helps. I also like the phone a friend option for some cheering up. 🙂
Phone a friend, I’m going to use that phrase!
Sorry to hear Hollie. You have a good attitude. It’s okay to not keep a happy face all the time. I did find out mine is not a stress fracture, but still have the boot and PT.
I usually feel as though it pours every day, but that’s simply reflective of my attitude and state of mind. In reality, it’s usually more of a cumulative drizzle, but occasionally life really does stink, at least in relation to running. I had three pelvic stress fractures within months of one another in 2011 (single pubic ramus on the right, double pubic ramus on the left side) and honestly I was pissed off beyond belief. I feel similarly about the mystery injury I currently have that doesn’t seem to get any better, regardless of what I do. Unlike you, though, I have to accept a high degree of responsibility for the ‘bad luck’ I’ve experienced with running. I am not a positive person and never will be, so I’m useless at giving advice regarding that, but I will say that the fact you have friends and other interests works in your favour. I seriously hope this is just a random tendon blip and/or bruising situation and it’s not a stress fracture, and I wish I could banish those damn clouds from over your head. You deserve a ray of sunshine, at the very least.
xxx
Thank you for your kind words Jess and I truly believe you deserve some sunlight as well. Hopefully, you are injury free soon. 🙂
I always feel like when it rains, it pours. I remind myself that someone, somewhere has it worse than me. and thinking of J being away from his family/friends in a foreign country being challenged every hour of every day–i can get thru difficult things here! hang in there lady! <3
That means a lot to me, thank you. I actually remember at work someone said “you have to leave all your problems at the door, because someone is always having a worse day”.
*hugs* It poured in my life earlier this summer right after I got injured (with various non-injury dramas). This past month was great and I’m glad things are looking up, but it is a reminder that I can get through tough situations. I know it pales in comparison to what some people go through, such as diseases, divorces, deaths, job loss, etc, but I know the next time something difficult happens, I can look back and know I got through things and it gives me hope.
This too shall pass. It’s ok to be down and frustrated, anyone in your shoes would be. Just remember you have a LOT to look forward to and you have some friends/family who are always here for you!
Beautifully put.
This winter it rained, poured, monsooned (injury-wise). A few years ago, it rained, poured, monsooned in my life. I think that the hardest things for us to hear is the the “skies will open again” or whatever. So all I’m going to say is this: Yup. IT SUCKS. But so do really hard workouts. And you’ve made it through those. When we train, we are really training for life. Put your training to use in a way you didn’t know you would be.
You got this.
Yes exactly…your life is a collection of your years…not days, weeks or years. 🙂
I feel both, depending on the day. Sometimes, that I have to bring my A game and make my positive attitude happen and sometimes that things can’t possibly get worse and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ve written on a very similar premise before, particularly in reference to “Of Joy and Sorrow” by Kahlil Gibran (http://makingmindfulness.blogspot.com/2014/08/of-joy-sorrow.html). It can always get better! : )
I’ve been having a difficult couple of weeks too and it’s so easy to lose perspective – you gotta have the really bad periods in order to appreciate the amazing times, which will always come back around! It’s the same with running, the good runs always feel so amazing because you’ve survived the bad ones. To help me feel better, there’s nothing more cathartic than crying it all out. You’ve got this – it will get better.
That means a lot Nessa. I completely agree that the bad runs make the good ones feel so much better. 🙂
Gahh, NOOOO. Hollie, NOOOO. (I realize this won’t change anything, but at least it’s out of my system.) I’ve been luckily recently in terms of avoiding “rain” on the triathlon front, but it’s been a frustrating few weeks as far as non-sweat things go. All we can do is put our heads down and keep working hard. The grey skies and rain will pass.
Oh, it does suck, Hollie! I’m just getting back in the pool from about a year off. During that time, I learned to reinforce my supplemental training ( sport specific strength training, which I needed), and started coaching, which equates to more learning (applying to my own swimming). Speaking of the pool, hey, it could temporarily fill that running void? A safe place to keep your heart pumping faster while you heal…. Had to try! I feel your plight, Hollie… The end of which is very sweet. Except for the part where you realize you have a lot of work to do to get back to where you were… So get in the pool haha!
So sorry to hear about your bad news. It’s devastating. Hope it turns out better than you are thinking!
1. Nice graphics. 🙂 what’d you use?
2. I find it rains more in it life than it does shine. 🙁