The Long Game

"Most over-estimate what they can do in a year and under-estimate what they can do in fifteen...you'll be astounded with where you'll be one day." 

 Since I started this blog a year ago, I thought I'd write a post about time, progress, and how my relationship with those concepts have changed given some pretty cool improvements in how I move during my workouts.  For the last few weeks, I have been using one foot plate instead of two in order to anchor my feet to the ground while I bench; the result is that I'm able to use my legs to power my bench instead of fighting against them while my arms carry the load. During tonight's accessories, my ankles remained upright during a plank instead of collapsing to one side and putting unnecessary pressure on my upper body. For the first time in a year and a half, it felt like my ankles were on my side instead of players on an opposing team. 

Another thing that has happened in the past few weeks is the resurgence of one of the most common questions people ask about my Cerebral Palsy: "When will you get better?" No matter how many times I hear it, this questions always stings. I don't doubt that people mean it in a well-intentioned or curious way, and yet, in my head I always think "better" must mean the same as "cured" or "healed" because these words are so often used when people wonder about the trajectory of Cerebral Palsy. 

 When it comes to answering the question of "when will you get better?," I typically give a standard answer about the stable and chronic nature of C.P., but these past few weeks have been a much-needed reminder that "getting better" happens every day, I just have to shift my view of what that looks like for me, and appreciate all that comes with it.

The Long Game: A failed attempt at 130 lbs