It’s Canadian Thanksgiving weekend and I am grounded.
This is the weekend that I planned on flying to Canada to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Oakville.
My grounding is primarily due to a misstep – literally.
In early September, while walking down a stoney path stairway admiring the beauty of a peacock, I missed my footing.
The result: Ankle fractures.
Nothing to be pinned or plated apparently, but it needs time to heal properly.
As I sit in my favorite spot, with my booted leg up on a pillow, I am strangely comforted by the fact that
today is a wet, gloomy, non-flying day.
Able-bodied or not, I wouldn’t have taken off with today’s stormy weather.
I am disappointed to be grounded this way but, the good thing is, I have the opportunity to “press pause” for a moment.
Noteworthy advice: When a peacock walks in front of you on stoney path stairway, stop to admire it. Then resume your walk.
Flight to Canada – Grounded
If you are anything like me, you are already aware of the importance of a strong and healthy body.
But, sometimes it takes an event to remind me of the magnitude of the blessing of good health.
For the last month, as I’ve struggled to deal with the pain in my leg/ankle and resulting loss of mobility,
I remind myself that “it could have been worse”.
I think of the “friend of a friend” teacher who fell down the stairs at school last week and died from a cerebral hemorrhage.
It saddens me as I remember my grandmothers. Both lost their independence due to falls; one broke a hip, the other broke an ankle.
I think of my brother who gets around in a wheelchair because of the recklessness of a drunk driver.
My brother is a zen master in mental fortitude in dealing with his physical issues.
Without question, I am grateful for the good health of my son, my husband and his children,
and all of the people in my little world who I love.
However, at the age of 50, I am lucky to receive a great gift.
The universe has firmly reminded me that my own good health is not to be squandered.
I have the opportunity to “press pause” for a moment.
Recently I wrote about how aviation risk assessments relate to safety. In the post I write:
“To “be safe”, one cannot just passively wish for it… It embodies the never-ending “if-this then-that” type of choices and personal decisions that we make in order to avoid mishaps...”
Replace “safe” with “healthy” to see where I am going with this.
Though my diet has remained relatively consistent, I cheat regularly with my vice, ice-cream. I no longer religiously practice yoga and run on the treadmill like I’m running the Chicago marathon. Because of that, I’ve gained weight and loss muscle tone.
Maintaining flexibility is exactly what my over 50 body needs and exercising helps my mind and body – I know this.
So, ten years after my brothers accident and the loss of my Granny, why have I become complacent about my health?
I think I was focusing on the wrong thing.
Exercise has never been part of my routine life.
I have always “worked-out” to keep my weight down.
In high school, college, and in every phase of my life since then, I have only worked-out when my weight starts to creep up.
I have looked at exercise with distain for as long as I can remember.
As I stopped to think about that, it’s pretty easy to see that I associate exercising with “getting-fat”…
and I don’t feel good, in any way, when I “feel fat”. I think of working out as like a punishment
How ridiculous.
This injury has reminded me how lucky I am to breathe freely, move without effort or pain, and live my life, as I choose to live it, without the barrier of a physical limitation or a chronic disease.
My abililty to work-out, in any shape or form, is a blessing.
Thus I am choosing to shift my perspective on exercise.
Instead of something that I “hate to do/have to do” to keep my weight down, it’ll simply be what keeps me strong and healthy.
I was focusing on the wrong thing.
I’ll get to fly to Canada to visit my family another time when stormy weather is somewhere else
and my left foot can push on it’s rudder pedal again.
If nothing else, this injury has truly grounded me.
Life events like this hold up a nice big mirror, which is good when I can really look at it.
I saw impatience with myself and how stubborn I can be.
Sitting still took me three weeks to accomplish.
I noticed that I don’t like to ask for or receive help.
Though, having strangers ask me if I needed help affirmed my belief that people are inherently good.
Most importantly, I saw that my health focus was not on my strength; it was on my weight.
Oh, and that I should get busy with my instrument rating…
I continue to learn and appreciate the art of flying.
Because of it, I am fine tuning my perspective on life and how to best live it.
So I got grounded.
Thank goodness.
I am continuing to fine tune my perspectives on life and
how to best live it.
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