Showing Up

October 2013

It has been a long week with many physical challenges.

When I went back to the gym, for the first time after the accident, everything hurt and I was so limited.  That day I met a lovely woman, her name is Sherilynn.  Sherilynn asked me if it was my first time at the gym?  I had to smile because, she had recognized how difficult movement was for me and although I had been practicing yoga for nearly 20 years, that day I was a beginner.  She was kind and shared with me some of the experiences and struggles she had been through.  I told her that I had noticed her before in class and in fact, as I struggled to decide I could go back to yoga even though I knew I would be severely limited, I remembered seeing her.  I remembered that sometimes she did her own thing and not what the class was doing, and that had given me the motivation to go to class knowing I would have to modify my level of activity.  Sherilynn said something I will never forget, "It's about showing up."  

So, for almost two months now I have been learning what "Showing Up," means to me.  Two weeks ago, I was so strong and feeling the best I had felt since the accident.  Then I began a different focus in Physical Therapy.  I am a beginner again, I am still stronger and I can rely on lessons I have learned over the last two months, but this has been a very painful week and I have more to learn.  I think before the accident back in June, this would have been the kind of week I would have hung the do not disturb sign on my bedroom door.  I am so blessed to have learned the powerful lesson of Showing UP, without it I would have missed out on lots of  joy and blessings this week.