When I was on my high school gymnastics team (5 years ago, good lord), the first two weeks of the season were spent doing a torturous level of conditioning. I was extremely out of shape and far from flexible. In fact, I was easily one of the least flexible on the team. I never thought I would have been able to drop into a full split. Our coaches would push us until we thought our muscles were going to rip and just as we hit that point, we were told to stretch just a little further.
If you don't challenge yourself past what you can already clearly do, that's as much as you'll ever be able to do. That is the sort of the mindset I kept during the whole refeeding process. I would eat until I absolutely didn't think I could finish any more of my meal, and then I would force myself to take just a few more bites. It's all about pushing past your limits.
When you're in recovery, doing only as much as you (think you) can will never be enough. You've always got to take one more step past that point. That's the point where you learn new things about yourself.
I had a split by the end of that season.
4 comments:
congrats on your splits. one of my therapists is always talking about respecting your limits, though I do think you're right that we really have to push more than we think we can in recovery.
unfortunately, i've lost them since.. but that's besides the point, haha ;)
i guess you need to respect your limits to a certain point.. but change never comes without pushing them a little. if we always do what's comfortable, how can there be change??
I really thought this was awesome, emmy. Thanks so much for the reminder, for this is EXACTLY what I need to do right now, especially as I have to begin tube feedings again...OMG it's going to be awful. I can't even think about it. :(
There's an old saying that I love: "If you always do what you always did you'll always get what you always got". Our limits are in our head. They're not even acurate. When we push that one more step it opens doors we can't even imagine! We don't even see the door is there until you take one more step. It's like finding treasure. :)
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