Oh, Snap! Broken Leg a “Patient” Reminder
The last week
of May in 2010 was a popular seven days for breaking your leg. Professional
race car driver Mike Conway broke his leg (and his back) in a spectacular crash
at the Indy 500. Pro baseball player Kendry Morales of the Angels broke his leg
after hitting a game-winning grand slam home run. Amidst the celebration at
home plate, he jumped up and then stepped wrong and then, well, snap. So when I
broke my leg in a kitchen fall nearly three years ago—in non-eye-popping,
non-dramatic fashion—I knew I wasn’t alone. But I also knew… I was an idiot.
When multiple
sclerosis tries to pry away some of our abilities, it’s only natural to hold on
tighter. When the disease successfully robs us, even temporarily in a relapse,
the push to regain what was lost can feel quest-like. The problem with quests?
They take time. Heck, Odysseus, cursed by the gods, was gone for 10 years
battling Cyclops and such before returning to Troy. For poor Frodo, it took
three whole movies to get and then destroy that damn ring. Sir Lancelot and the
Holy Grail he was looking for? Well, he’s still looking. Point is, you can’t
really hurry a quest. Patience—methodical patience—needs to be embraced to get
where you want to go. Don’t dwell on what you could do; focus on what you can
do. And for the love of god, don’t try to do what you could do but currently
can’t do (or shouldn’t do, at least safely). You might just break a leg.*
*Ah, it was
only the fibula, the smallest bone in the leg. I didn’t even need a cast and it healed up completely in 6 weeks. I promptly got right back to questing!
Originally published June 4, 2010. Edited for
clarity.
Comments
On an unrelated note: today I went for confession (Catholic) after a really long time. And I said about one 'sin' when I really, really, really had to pee. I said "yeah, that's all" to the priest and ran off to the bathroom!
Sometimes my goals can seem overwhelming and unrealistic, usually when I try to rush them too fast and jumble them all together. So that no caffeine-chocolate-gluten-soy-beans-red meat-everything-else-that's-delicious diet, when rushed and forced without patience, ends up with my buying the biggest toblerone chocolate bar one could possibly eat in a single sitting. Then beat myself up for it. Yup.
Patience with myself, patience with my goals, patience with what life gives, and doesn't.
:) Niko