Life, to me, is all about moving forward and forgetting about the past unless of course it is to learn from mistakes. I try not to dwell too much on the negatives of having multiple hip, ankle and spine surgeries. I am not ever interested in taking steps back. Sometimes my body may need to take a few steps back, but I know that as long my mind is moving forward with optimism, my body will catch up. With the change of season and the need to build on an already pretty amazing healthy nutritional profile and outlook, I have begun a refresh. Think of the refresh capability on your computer. It takes away the trudging download times or even gets rid of the stuck screen. It lets you see newness again.
My refresh is focusing on my nutrition and self-care and I had been talking with my coach, Melissa Singh, last weekend. She asked me what it was that I wanted to be able to walk away with after this 4 month program. I hemmed and hawed. I gave the obvious answers. I want to eat healthier. I want to feel better. I want to have more energy. She wanted something deeper. She wanted me to focus on being balanced with my approach. I hemmed and hawed some more until I had an "ah ha" moment with her.
"I want to be okay without being perfect!"
There is no perfection. We are all perfectly imperfect. But the problem I run into is not being imperfect so much as being okay with it. I feel that my multiple orthopedic issues reassert how defective my body is and, sometimes, my mind turns that into weakness. If I don't try to strengthen my body and I melt down into a mess of frustration, then my hip issues are my fault somehow. I know that is not right and it is certainly not what I would tell any of you if I was asked, but that is my imperfection talking. So the goal of this refresh is to up the ante on my nutrition. I'm continuing to eat a whole food plant based diet with the focus on foods that sit well with my body based on the science of Ayurverdic medicine. The refresh also includes meditation, yoga, self-care and working through where my mind gets stuck sometimes. My goal is to relax, breathe and lean in to my imperfections. I will celebrate my funky hips as they are part of the equation that has put resilience on the right side of the equal sign.
Imperfections are what make us unique! Our experiences can build a foundation of strength for our future whether that future includes a focus on hips or just being hip! My vote is that I just want to be hip.