DAY 40 - RESPECTING YOUR LIMITS

Day 40

Monday afternoon, my friend Donna asked me if I wanted to bike up the mountain with her. Since I began this blog, I’ve been trying to adopt a new attitude. Whenever someone suggests an activity, I automatically accept. I’ve decided to challenge myself and go against my natural lazy tendency! So, I accepted.

I consider myself being in average shape. I exercise regularly. Generally, I go running about three times a week for 25 minutes. I love running. I always feel great afterwards. I had gone up the mountain with Donna once before in the summer. I had found it a little difficult, but I was able to reach the top.

I had just finished having lunch and when we were biking toward the bottom of the mountain, I felt it wasn’t going to be easy. As we began the ascent, I noticed the muddy ground was slowing us down and increasing the level of difficulty. I was chit chatting with Donna, telling her about my weekend, trying to keep my mind off the atrocious pain in my thighs and the quick acceleration of my heartbeat. I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to get to the top. I was thinking: “I am invincible! My mind is going to win the battle over my body. I can do this. Yes, I can! ” And then… I began feeling very nauseous so I had no choice but to bring myself to a halt. Through my panting I heard myself whisper the words LOOSER.

I climbed off my bike and started sweating profusely, feeling dizzy and very nauseated. I sat down under a tree and stayed there until I was ready to go back home. My legs were shaking and I felt as though a truck had run me over. All evening, I felt exhausted as if I had run a marathon. For some reason, I didn’t have a very restful sleep. Both my daughters woke up at some point during the night; I had the strangest dreams; I felt I was awake most of the night!

Everybody has their own limits. It is true that, at times, you need to push yourself in order to progress. However, it is imperative to always respect your body and to be non judgmental about your limitations. All right, so I’m not a super-dooper athlete with a sculpted body and an invincible mind! I think I already knew that.

Inner peace comes from knowing and respecting who you are, with all your limits, by allowing gradual transformation when you set yourself a goal, but by always staying in touch with the messages sent by your body and your mind. Getting in better shape might be my ultimate objective…but I should probably start with something easier than biking up the mountain, after a meal, on a muddy, rainy, cold and windy, fall day.