Something somewhat traumatic happened to me recently that took me completely by surprise…
It left me feeling blindsided, disoriented, helpless, out of control, vulnerable, weak, wounded, exposed, embarrassed, confused and eventually scarred. It was very painful.
Wow! What was it?
I know, it sounds pretty dramatic, like maybe something really scandalous. Or, perhaps somebody did something really cruel and vindictive to me.
No, the fact of the matter is that I simply tripped and fell on some concrete.
It was a pretty traumatic experience, though, at least at the moment I was going through it. The biggest reason was because of my fear. My elbow was gushing blood, but that was of no concern to me. My biggest concern was whether I had broken any bones. Blood I could deal with, but if I had broken any bones it could’ve meant that my ability to play guitar could be impaired, temporarily or even permanently. Memories of people that I’ve known who have fallen off their bikes and ended up with their arms in a sling for months were going through my mind.
As the pain subsided and I was able to get full range of motion with all my appendages, my fears finally abated.
Instead of seeing myself as a weak, frail old man, I began to think, “Hmm…maybe I’m tougher than I thought!”
Ironically, the next week, as I was on the phone with my 80 year old mother, she was telling me that she also had fallen but hadn’t broken anything. I had not yet mentioned anything about my experience to her. She then told me that, after her fall, she realized, “Hmm…maybe I’m tougher than I thought!”
Isn’t that something?
I know we don’t want to tempt fate or do anything crazy to test our limits, but I wonder if this is something that could be said of all of us. Maybe we are tougher and more flexible than we think we are. Maybe we can handle more than we think we’re capable of handling. Perhaps we can bounce back better than we anticipated.
Like I always tell my daughters…
You’re a tough cookie!