I am injury prone when it comes to exercise. Last year I got tendinitis in my wrist from push ups. Before that, it was sore heels from running. (I was told I have not been blessed with enough fatty tissue in my heels to run properly. I suggested a transfer from elsewhere in my body, but apparently it doesn’t work that way). Prior to that it was bursitis in my left elbow from P90X. I couldn’t bend it for a week. Try going to the bathroom without bending one of your arms. Seriously, try it.
This time, it was a pulled muscle in my hip from running. God might be trying to tell me something like “Slow down” with all these injuries, but let’s ignore that obvious fact to get to the point of this post, which is what the doctor said to me today.
I was hoping and praying that this visit to an orthopedic surgeon wouldn’t require the weeks of OT warranted by the previous injury. The doctor did give me a cortisone shot, after assuring me that it wouldn’t make me cry and curse like last time (because hips have more cushioning than wrists). He told me I needed to rest it a week, and stretch it. As he got up to leave he asked, “Do you want to do a follow up visit, or should we just call this a victory?”
Call it a victory? That sounded like a great option, so I agreed, “Let’s call it a victory.”
It was a simple phrase, but it’s had me thinking since then. Do I call victories, even in the little things? Managing to get healthy meals on the table in the midst of a busy week? Victory. Writing that note to someone? Victory. Taking initiative to move forward on a project? Victory. Praying over something instead of fretting? Victory.
I think we’re so inclined to see what we’re not doing, what we could be doing, that we forget to see what we are doing, what is happening, and call it victory.
I never expected to walk away from today’s appointment feeling victorious, but I did, just because someone told me it was. I want to remember to recognize the victories and call them, to celebrate where things are going well. They’re all around us, really, we just need to see them.
Where are you experiencing victory today?
