One person sees the brutal facts, ignores them, and proceeds to fail. Another person sees the brutal facts, gets frightened, and quits. Another person sees the brutal facts, acknowledges them, and creates a plan to deal with them.
These 3 guys could also be viewed as the optimist, the pessimist, and the realist.
Then there's the fourth guy! The guy that sees the brutal facts, acknowledges them, but proceeds to plow forward at all costs without any semblance of a plan. This guy could simply be viewed as an idiot!
I wish I could tell you that I spend all of my time in the realism camp, but if I'm being honest with myself I can tell you that this is not the case.
While I am rarely the guy that quits, I do sometimes drift into the eternal optimist category, and upon occasion....yes you guessed it...I'm an idiot!!!
Case in point. While out and about yesterday Michael and I decided to stop and help a couple of stranded motorists who needed some help changing a flat. Because my Michael is a proven tire changing expert, I had no reservations in giving them a hand. As soon as I seen the lug nuts on their car though I knew it was gonna be trouble. Lots of rust(the brutal facts)! They were so grateful for our help though that I could not let them down. I got the lug nuts off, but I hurt my freakin back!!!
Today I just want to say "fuck it"! But I ain't gonna! I'm gonna face the brutal facts, create a plan and get on with it. I did manage to ride 90 kms this morning so that's a good thing. I couldn't run 5 steps however, and that's not so good. I'm not sure about swimming, but since I got 4000 slow but comfortable metres in yesterday, I'm not too worried about that.
So please send me all your energy. I'm gonna need it in order to stay on the couch tomorrow. That's step one of the plan. I'm not sure what step 2 is yet, but I'm sure Old John's gonna tell me.
"Both the optimist and the pessimist think they're realists"---Anon
Love
Peter
These 3 guys could also be viewed as the optimist, the pessimist, and the realist.
Then there's the fourth guy! The guy that sees the brutal facts, acknowledges them, but proceeds to plow forward at all costs without any semblance of a plan. This guy could simply be viewed as an idiot!
I wish I could tell you that I spend all of my time in the realism camp, but if I'm being honest with myself I can tell you that this is not the case.
While I am rarely the guy that quits, I do sometimes drift into the eternal optimist category, and upon occasion....yes you guessed it...I'm an idiot!!!
Case in point. While out and about yesterday Michael and I decided to stop and help a couple of stranded motorists who needed some help changing a flat. Because my Michael is a proven tire changing expert, I had no reservations in giving them a hand. As soon as I seen the lug nuts on their car though I knew it was gonna be trouble. Lots of rust(the brutal facts)! They were so grateful for our help though that I could not let them down. I got the lug nuts off, but I hurt my freakin back!!!
Today I just want to say "fuck it"! But I ain't gonna! I'm gonna face the brutal facts, create a plan and get on with it. I did manage to ride 90 kms this morning so that's a good thing. I couldn't run 5 steps however, and that's not so good. I'm not sure about swimming, but since I got 4000 slow but comfortable metres in yesterday, I'm not too worried about that.
So please send me all your energy. I'm gonna need it in order to stay on the couch tomorrow. That's step one of the plan. I'm not sure what step 2 is yet, but I'm sure Old John's gonna tell me.
"Both the optimist and the pessimist think they're realists"---Anon
Love
Peter
Thank god, cause I was starting to think I was gonna have to tell ya! Go ahead, John, tell him!!
ReplyDeleteOk, but I gotta start with this. I can't believe how fortunate I am to be invited to give advice by two people whom I admire and respect so much!
ReplyDeleteI guess that is also step one for you. I dare you to find a piece of paper big enough to write down all the things you have in your life to be thankful for. I can even get it started for you....you have a son who is expert in a field (tire changing) and even though he is expert, he knows when to delegate the grunt work to the idiots.
Next would be to see the injury as the opportunity that it is. Just off the top of my head, It will force you to relax, which is something you obviously need to do/learn. It also gives you time to work on training! Oh, but I am overtrained and injured you say. Time to train you mind. Spend time visualizing good outcomes, work on minimizing/eliminating negative self talk, relearn breathing for relaxation, imagine the best of everything. None of these things will change any of the facts about your injury, but they will put you in a frame of mind to feel better, and that will aid recovery.
That's all I got for now, thanks again for the invitation.
Love happy old John......I think I might use that all the time as I suspect it makes others smile.
AWESOMENESS!!
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