Hello again! It's been awhile... actually two years since I have been made a blog post here.
I have been putting this off for so long because life has been full of big ups and downs! I cannot wait to share all that has happened because I have grown so much in this time. I won't get all in depth yet - if you want the short version, here it is below. On the other hand, if you prefer a dramatic storytelling of events, close your eyes and skip the next paragraph.
March '21: Quit my job without a backup
April: Right ankle surgery
June: Coached my husband at the Olympic Trials
August: New job, left ankle surgery and bought first house
October: Had our wedding
December '21: Thailand for 1st international meet
May '22: Bought our first fixer upper rental property
October: Rental property was move-in ready for tenants
November: New training partner
December '22: Another new training partner
Here is the full story for those who want more details on where we left off... rewind two years to where my last post talked about my ankle hurting. Well, turns out it was broken... The story doesn't end there either. Turns out my OTHER ankle also had the same injury (I just didn't notice yet because the right one was so overpowering in pain! Survival mode and the human body is fascinating. Another topic for another day...) So despite having two broken ankles, I competed my heart out that indoor season and was really proud of it, as dumb as that may sound. Having pushed through such intense pain in sheer determination to achieve something that matters... it really taught me that the mind is so powerful and we are capable of so much more than we believe.
In the moment, it can be so difficult to process things and see clearly. I was so hyper focused on my athletic goals at the time. As a result, I ended up putting so much pressure on myself to the point that it was taking over me. My life was my athletic performance and I didn't know how to see my worth beyond my results. I was rarely satisfied because I could have always done better. Or worse, I was devastated because I performed so far below my expectations. I couldn't see the positive in any other area of life because my perspective was so zoomed in on one area. How I performed was all that mattered. I really struggled with the failure of falling short from jumping what I knew I could, instead of celebrating how well I was doing. It took a lot of the fun out of it because the sport that I once loved now had become my identity in the form of a scoreboard. I compared myself to others and wanted the success that I had worked so hard for.
I should also mention right around when this was all unfolding I made one of the most liberating decisions quit a job I was unhappy with.
After several weeks of rest and no pain relief, I finally saw a doc and found out the real problem. I had a broken calcaneus that needed surgery to fully heal. Looking at a timeline for qualifying for the Olympic Trials, this really put a wrench in my plan. But this surgeon, Dr. Dawes is like my superwoman... she got me in for surgery the NEXT DAY! She said "every day counts" and she really wanted to make a difference. It was so sweet and she was such a bright spot in that dark time.
So the right ankle surgery happened in April, I came back and started to jump again, then in August felt something similar in the left ankle. I had the same injury in the other ankle and sure enough, my hero, Dr. Dawes fixed it up in August. (Notice the boot on the right AND left leg below.) The second surgery also happened to be the same week when Scott and I bought our first house. Poor guy, he had to move the whole house by himself since I was in a boot and crutches! The most I could do was pack and unpack boxes at ground level.
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