Thoughts

Thoughts are about the most exciting thing I've got going on a day to day basis recently.  There is a lot to look forward to, but for the moment, I've been stuck in my head, thinking about life, bikes, skateboarding, the things I have coming up, and the things I've done in the past.

Getting outside of your head can be difficult when you're used to allowing your emotions to fly through your physicality.  Exercise has been a staple in my life.  Without it for these last weeks has been tough, as evidenced by every post I've composed since my injury.  It amazes me how much my temperament and general personality is dictated by sweat.

I'm not going to say that I'm addicted to exercise, but for arguments sake, let's just say that I am.  Is that so bad?  Is it a bad thing to give in to one of your primal urges to work?  I mean, after all, when we ride our bikes, lift weights, run, swim, or play whatever sport we choose, all we're doing is mimicking what our animal bodies are designed to do in nature.  We're meant to sprint from bigger animals tracking us, and run after others that are our prey.  We're meant to move rocks and logs to provide shelter for ourselves and our families.  And we're meant to work ourselves to the point of exhaustion so that we may sleep well at night. So I ask again, is it really an addiction that I have? Or is it rather, giving in to the primal urge to satisfy my bodies purpose?

Whatever it is, life is not the same without it.  I can't imagine being a person who does not move their body on a daily basis.  Sure, some of us have more talents physically, and some have more talents mentally, but we all can benefit from running, jumping, and lifting things. I'm reminded of the television commercials for Planet Fitness: "I pick things up and put them down. I pick things up and put them down."  Yeah, the guy is a meathead, and yeah, he comes off as dumb, but we all have the 'dumb meathead' in us, only most of us don't let him come out.

Working out hurts, and training out bodies to perform the way we want is not always a painless process.  Still, the results of the work, the process, and the procedure, far outweigh the temporary discomfort we find as we push our bodies past their previous limits.  The old adage, "no pain, no gain" is spot on.  We don't get anywhere, physically or otherwise, without discomfort.

This injury is a demonstration of my growth as a person. It's an exercise of the mind, in which I am obviously quite weak.  The discomfort I feel is a test of how I can become a stronger person and how I can ultimately help myself and others get through similar situations.  No doubt, something such as this will come into my life again, and into the lives of those I care about.  While my plight is quite small in comparison to others, the lessons learned will transfer.