Okay, so I know I promised not to talk about this on my blog anymore, but in the last few months, I think I’ve accumulated a lot of new readers, so too bad – I’m talking about it! In March, I had foot surgery. For a few weeks there, it seemed like every post I wrote had something to do with my surgery, or my recovery, or my frustration with my recovery, or the amazing people who helped with my recovery. I don’t think I really realized going into the surgery how major it really was, and how much it would affect my life afterwards.
Maybe I thought it would be kinda fun to take a month off my feet. Maybe I looked forward to having everyone pay attention to me and wait on me hand and foot (literally – ha!). Maybe I was nuts.
Nuts or not, I definitely did not ever realize what a ridiculous amount of work I would have to put in to my recovery. I did not envision intense physiotherapy 4 hours a week for 4 months. I did not think about putting on an extra 5-10 pounds from the sheer lack of activity. I did not realize I’d have to go 6 weeks without driving a car. I did not see myself walking at a ridiculously slllloooooowwww pace for almost 2 months. I did not realize that my one foot would shrink half a size, therefore rendering half of my shoes unfit to wear ever again.
I had no idea. I wasn’t prepared for it. And I was shocked when I realized I wasn’t just going to bounce back from it.
Back in April (when I was still couch-ridden), I wrote this post, about how a lot of my successes and accolades in life have always come easy to me. I’ve never really had to work for anything. I gave up on things that seemed hard, or didn’t interest me, and I tried something else instead.
That post received a TON of attention from you guys – and also one of my only really awful, negative comments (don’t go looking for it ‘cause I deleted it – I was not about to spread the negativity). The gentleman who commented said a lot of cruddy things that don’t bear repeating (this comment was about 8 paragraphs long), but one point he made was that I was just “a product of my generation” and I “grew up in an era of instant gratification and entitlement” – basically implying that myself and others in “my generation” have never had to work for anything, so why should we start now?
So, what the heck does this have to do with foot surgery?
Well, as much as I hate to admit it, but perhaps this long-winded commenter did have one valid point – maybe I wasn’t used to working hard for anything. Maybe my fear of hard work closed a few doors.
Maybe.
But I’m not willing to accept that now.
As ridiculous and trivial and “oh-poor-me” as it sounds, recovering from surgery was hard. I have busted my ass for the last 4 months to heal and be able to do any number of “normal” things that most of us take for granted (ie. Walking, trying on shoes, wiggling my toes, driving a car – just to name a few).
But what other choice did I have? Did I want to spend the remainder of my days sitting on my couch, packing on the pounds, watching repeats of the Maury Povich show, and watching the world go by? Heck no.
Life is made up of choices. Every day. Every moment – big or small. If you want to succeed or excel (or in my case, walk), you need to be prepared to work for it. It’s not always the “easy” choice and once you make that choice, success is not always going to fall into your lap. You gotta be willing to work for it. It’s never going to be as easy as a walk in the park – but it might be just as beautiful.