Personal Development Roadblocks – Taking Things for Granted

“You’re going into surgery right now. Put your things in this plastic bag.”

And she walked off. I was still numb from the shock. I hardly ever got sick, and had never had surgery.

This was not the way my Christmas vacation was supposed to begin – yesterday I was at Disneyland!

Two Phone Calls and I’m Out

I called my boss and left him a message saying “Sorry, I won’t be in today – I have to have surgery.” I called my dad and told him the same thing – he said he would fly out to take care of me, but I told him I was fine and would be ok. He wasn’t buying it.

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They took me upstairs and promptly knocked me out with some anesthetic. I remember that for about 10 seconds, I felt extremely calm – then I woke up feeling a little groggy, and confused before I remembered where I was.

Oh, right: I’d been sliced open, my appendix was gone and my clothes were somewhere in a plastic bag.

The Surgery is a Success

They told me the surgery went smoothly, and that it was a good thing I had come in when I did (after toughing it out thinking I had a stomach flu). So far so good – then the bad news.

Only liquids for a week
No physical activities and no carrying anything over 25 pounds for at least a month
I would be in some pain, and would need pain meds

I mentioned to my surgeon I was in the middle of bodybuilding- bulking up and lifting heavy weights. He was unsympathetic:

“Not anymore.”

Frustration – Can’t Think, Groggy from Pain Meds

Pills Drugs Prescription Pain Medication Unfortunately, while I was conscious and felt fine, I was stuck in the hospital for a day to make sure there were no issues. While I was waiting I asked my roommate to bring some software development books so I could at least make some headway on those.

What I didn’t realize was I felt fine because I was hopped up on all the pain meds they gave me – and as a result, my brain was fuzzy.

So imagine how demoralizing this was -

I couldn’t go to work, so I was burning vacation days.
I couldn’t lift weights (doctor’s orders) .
To top it all off I was unable to do anything mentally productive because of the haze from the pain medication.

It was frustrating.

And only liquids for a week? Good thing I love chocolate milk.

No Weight Training = Suffering

I used to think the hardest part of weight training was 20 rep squats – and I was be wrong.

The hardest part about weight training is wishing you could lift weights but not being able to.

Lifting weights, yoga and running are a big part of my life – but I never realized how much they meant to me until they were gone. Those activities define who I am. Every day I felt a feeling of anxiousness to get back in the gym and workout.

I thought of all the times I had complained about going – how often I had skipped a workout because I felt sore, or because I was lazy, or simply wasting time online. I wished I could have had all those days back.

My First Day Back At The Gym

I don’t remember all the details of the first day I was able to work out again, but I do remember this – a feeling of relief, happiness – and newfound motivation to make up for lost time and to get more serious about the things I wanted.

A promise to myself to be, as my friend Dragos writes, exceptional. And I was.

I made more progress working out in those six months than in the three years prior. I ate perfectly, slept perfectly, never missed a workout and did not eat one cookie that was not planned for in my diet – and it was the happiest I have ever been weight training. I looked forward to it every day – I was thankful just to be back in the gym.

Stop Taking Things For Granted

Sun Wheat Field I’m sure there are many lessons I could take away from that experience. You don’t know what you got till it’s gone? Take the chances you have? Or perhaps, when you’re in excruciating pain go to the hospital, because it might be appendicitis.

My biggest realization though, was that taking things for granted has stopped me from achieving my goals more than the breaks that never came. All those years I could have worked out, I could have had laser focus – but I didn’t. I procrastinated, I wasted time and then only when I lost what I had taken for granted the whole time did I wake up and get serious. I didn’t need a big break – I just needed to take the chance I already had right in front of me.

When I am motivated and fighting towards a goal, it doesn’t matter the obstacles I come across. It doesn’t matter what is standing in my way, or how many times I have to beat against the walls to knock them down – I’ll find a way to get done what needs to be done.

When I am complacent and take my situation for granted however, it doesn’t matter what I have on my side – if I take them all for granted, and don’t act in that moment I can still fail, because one day that moment – and with it, those advantages, those opportunities – will be gone.

Comments?

Any thoughts or comments? I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Reclaim Your Dreams by Jonathan Mead, a reminder to me to not take these things for granted:

“We no longer have to toil in farms and factories for the larger part of sunlight.

We have an amazing gift to even have the opportunity to pursue our dreams.

To squander that is a crime against yourself.“

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