Andy's Personal Progress.

[AndyJ]

I am on medication for the chronic pain, which seems to work fine, does not heal the fatigue side though. Just have to push through that.

I was in a car accident last year, got hit from behind at 60kph, pushed into the rear of a 4wd.

The pain I was waking up with is comparable to that hit I took, but as I said, medication is working a treat there.

Going to exercise tonight, see if I can get my body to do 10km walk.

[Tams]

Hey, one other thought that came to mind which was a big encouragment, was a conversation I had with an SAS guy who had broken his back (twice). I keep learning that we have to redefine the markers of success when we are dealing with 'stuff'. He said it in a nutshell - some days all he could do was somehow move his body downstairs from his apartment and then sit for a couple hours with a latte at the coffee shop beneath him (it was a couple hours cause he really couldnt do anything more until he'd rested that much!). THAT was success on his bad days. He'd moved. And he'd used that lure of the latte to help him achieve his movement.

Today he's massively buff and pumping weights at the gym, with full movement (to our eyes anyway - who knows the underlying story of anyone). But he was told he'd never do weights again, and he is.

SO, be kind to yourself while still pushing onwards. Don't aim for a record time, or a record number, or a perfect record, or anything else that the rest of the world would see as 'wow, achievement!'. Just aim for movement.

[AndyJ]

Hey, one other thought that came to mind which was a big encouragment, was a conversation I had with an SAS guy who had broken his back (twice). I keep learning that we have to redefine the markers of success when we are dealing with 'stuff'. He said it in a nutshell - some days all he could do was somehow move his body downstairs from his apartment and then sit for a couple hours with a latte at the coffee shop beneath him (it was a couple hours cause he really couldnt do anything more until he'd rested that much!). THAT was success on his bad days. He'd moved. And he'd used that lure of the latte to help him achieve his movement.

Today he's massively buff and pumping weights at the gym, with full movement (to our eyes anyway - who knows the underlying story of anyone). But he was told he'd never do weights again, and he is.

SO, be kind to yourself while still pushing onwards. Don't aim for a record time, or a record number, or a perfect record, or anything else that the rest of the world would see as 'wow, achievement!'. Just aim for movement.

Speaking of that.

When I was 11 years old I had an accident which crushed several discs in my spine, cause major nerve damage etc (this type of injury could of lead to the Fibromyalia), so basically a broken back, so I know what it takes to get back from that. I could not walk at all for 6mths, and another 18 months later of rehab and constant fit ball exercise to strengthen my core. I got back and managed to even play competitive football. Not long after that I dislocated my knee so bad, my knee cap was on the other side and rotated 180°.

[Blitz]

A few days ago I spied an old thread with your name on it and I was sadden because I realised that it had been some time that you had posted here - and that can only mean that things weren't going well with you.
So I was very happy to see your new post...

The fact that you are coming at it again bodes well for you. Each time we get out of the corner and continue the good fight means that we get closer and closer to winning the match. Learn from your previous encounters and developing the skills honed from these experiences.

The battle of weight loss is the battle of the mind. Success comes through programming your mind to expect success.
The conditions of your life's circumstances are not reasons for failure or success.
Without adversity there is no measure of triumph.

I met a guy last Sunday from Zambia. Raised by his mother alone, one of seven children (three of them dying in childhood) in a leaky one room mud hut in one of the toughest areas of Zambia. he longed to read but the poverty was such that his mother's choice was either meagre food or an education...so of cause education wasn't an option for many years. Fortunately he was able to receive overseas sponsorship and was able to attend a school. This opportunity he grasped with both hands. After graduating he was so grateful to the school he volunteered to help. After a while he was found work at the school as a caretaker and janitor. Working faithfully, he was able to became a teacher's aid and eventually with further study, he became the Year 7 teacher. It was a humbling experience meeting him. Before I heard his story, someone told me he was in wonder of the great wealth of Australians and how huge their houses were. I dismissed it with a comment that along with the huge house was a huge mortgage. Then I heard about the one room leaky mud hut without a floor...and then I was ashamed.

We can always make a case for how bad things are for us.
What is more beneficial is not to use our circumstances as a crutch to support our failing.
The things in our life are what they are and shouldn't be used as an excuse for not winning out.

In my own case I could have easily sold myself out by allow my own circumstances to kneecap my success.
The chronic asthma, bad back, belly hernia, ingrown toenails, caring for aging frail parents, caring for family (wife and child), paying the bills, running a business, help run my local church and all that on the wrong side of fifty years with the task of having to lose 87 kilos - which was more than half of what I then weighed.
Each and every one of those things I could have used as an excuse. An excuse for fail or an excuse that it is all too hard.
But I told myself plainly..."It is what it is - and it needs to be done - no matter what."

There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?
Robert Kennedy

Kim