Knowing Your Limitations
Over the last two years, I’ve had both of my hips replaced. I’m absolutely thrilled with the results as I am now pain free after suffering for a number of years under the weight of constant, nagging pain in both hips. Not only am I more mobile, I’m also more confident and my mental disposition is much improved. Living with pain is like walking around with your own personal cloud overhead. I literally feel like a new man.
However, living this new life with brand new shiny titanium hips comes at a cost. The cost is that certain movements are prohibited - especially twisting like a pretzel or creating an acute angle between the upper and lower body. There is a mindset shift that accompanies transformational biomechanical surgeries. I am a better version of myself, but I can no longer allow “I can do anything” hubris to get the best of me. There’s an extra layer of situational awareness that I’ve had to build over the last two years that forces me to slow down and think before I act. I view this newfound situational and spatial awareness as an asset and not a liability.
Fast forward to Monday night. After a full day of activity on Memorial Day, I needed to shower before bed. We all have our individualized shower routines that are honed over decades, but for some reason, I decided to alter mine slightly to aggressively clean my feet, which were absolutely filthy. For a brief moment, I allowed my “I’m invincible” hubris to get the best of me and I proceeded to create a severe acute angle and twist my body in exactly the manner in which I was told repeatedly not to do. In an instant that played out in slow motion, the ball slid out of the socket in my right hip and there I was, naked, shampoo still in my hair, completely immobile on the floor of the shower. The exact place that everyone hopes they never have to get extracted from for an ambulance ride to the ER.
So what’s the lesson here? To continually grow throughout your life, it’s important to know your limitations. Embrace them. Use them as a tool to improve situational awareness, adopt new perspectives, and build the creativity to accomplish your goals in ways you never thought possible. Use your limitations as an opportunity to grow networks of individuals who have capabilities that you do not have or no longer possess.
It’s easy to give up. It’s easy to say: “I was told I could no longer do x, so I will just ride off into the sunset.” It’s easy to get old and retire to the couch.
In the end, entropy gets the best of us. The three constants in this life are death, taxes, and change. As we travel through life, physical and mental limitations will increase. Mental agility, a lifelong learning mindset, creativity, critical thinking, and all forms of awareness—situational and otherwise—can help stave off losses in productivity and feelings of helplessness as we age. Michael J. Fox exemplifies this lesson. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s at age 29, Michael is a hero to me. Since that time, he has made an immeasurable, positive impact on the world. Always shifting, always changing based on new challenges, but always contributing, and never giving up.
We can do anything we set our minds to. We can maintain and grow our contributions to self, family, and community as we move through life. We can keep moving forward if we don’t succumb to the naysayers and the negativity of our worst critics. Remember, that your worst critic lives inside your own mind—constantly berating you and holding you back.
Oh, and I would be remiss to not take this opportunity to thank my spouse and all the EMS and medical professionals that helped me on Monday night. I’m in awe of your professionalism and skill. I’m deeply grateful.
