My dad often quotes Mike Tyson when he says, "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face".
The other day, I was at the gym exercising on the overhead press machine when I noticed a man next to me moving off his machine and grabbing crutches. I said to him, “You motivate me.” He seemed surprised and asked, “What?” I repeated, “You motivate me.” He smiled as he got up, crutches in hand, and replied, “It’s been really tough.”
I assumed his need for crutches stemmed from a mild injury—something temporary. Still, I thought, wow, this guy is in fabulous shape and needs crutches, yet he’s here at the gym, working out. In the brief moments before he explained what had really happened, I remember thinking, “I should never hesitate to come to the gym. I’m healthy, I can walk, and I’m blessed to be able to move freely whenever I want.”
Part of me hesitated to ask what had happened, wondering if it would be appropriate. But lately, I’ve grown tired of tiptoeing around possibly sensitive subjects. I’m tired of worrying about offending someone when my intentions are good and I genuinely want to have an honest, authentic conversation with a fellow human being. So, I didn’t hold back. I asked, “So, what happened?”
He told me he fell off a roof in 2011. He passed out and was unconscious for a while. After the fall he’d broken several vertebrae and was paralyzed in much of his body. Part of his legs remain paralyzed, which is why he needs crutches. He also had rods placed in his back.
I was amazed. Here was a man in outstanding physical condition compared to most people I know who don’t have any physical limitations and this man is still working hard at the gym to keep his body in tip top condition. He said he’s undergone years of physical therapy and continues to work out consistently and as intensely as he can—and— he is 73 years old (and doesn’t look it at all).
Before the accident, he had been very athletic—an avid tennis player who could never sit still. Even now, he said it’s hard for him to cope with not being able to move the way he once did.
He’s now my new friend and I think about him every time I feel the urge to skip a visit to the gym. I love fitness. It is my favorite hobby so it’s not usually hard to motivate myself to go, but there are days, like everyone else, when I just don’t feel like it. His story has become a reminder for me to never take my physical ability for granted.
And his story reminds me of Joe Dispenza’s in his book, Evolve Your Brain. A young 20’s chiropractor in San Diego at the time, Dispenza was also extremely athletic and suffered a severe spinal injury in a biking accident around age 24 in Palm Springs. Doctors told him he would need to undergo Herrington Rod surgery to avoid permanent paralysis and needed to make the life changing decision within 24-48 hours otherwise he may remain paralyzed from the waste down, but even with surgery he knew he’d need to take addictive medications due to continuous pain for the rest of his life if he opted to move forward with it. Ultimately, he chose not to, believing that the hours of intense yoga and martial arts he’d been doing for years would give him a healing edge. He was right. (You can learn more about it by reading the book).
While I don’t wish anyone to experience accidents like the ones these men have (and hope I and you never do), the fact that they refused to allow these roadblocks to stop them in their tracks is inspiring. I am so grateful to them and hope you are inspired as well because it is true that, not only do we take movement for granted, we take so many other things for granted in life as well.
Let’s stop doing that.
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