The Energy Story You Tell Yourself
Traveling in Atlanta last week, I hurt my back when I went to lift something. I could tell that it wasn’t serious and would get better in a couple of days.
Still, it was annoying! For the rest of that day and most of the next, it hurt to move. Walking was more of a hobble.
Worst of all, I felt embarrassed. Though I tried to hide it, the hobble was noticeable. I had two flights that day and did my best to stand up straight while boarding the plane.
I’m so old, I thought.
The day after my injury, I ended up running ten miles. I’d planned to do at least eight, but was nervous about it. Sure enough, the first mile was rough. I ran with the same hobble I had in the airport, and every step hurt.
But then—as I’d hoped—something settled and it turned out to be a great run. I felt victorious towards the end, when I added on the extra two miles.
Later that day, the pain returned and I spent a lot of time lying around. Minor back injuries are funny like that. Running ten miles is no problem, but walking to get the mail afterwards hurts.
Age Is More Than a Number
The idea that “age is just a number” is a fantasy. It’s like saying that limitations have no basis in reality. If you lose your eyesight or hearing, you can still do lots of things and be an inspiring person (etc.) but there are plenty of other things that are now out of reach.
Further, anyone who’s done endurance events (marathons, triathlons, shopping with a toddler) knows that there are in fact real physical limits that aren’t just mental. Some pain is manageable, but some isn’t.
Not only that, but the mere process of aging produces limitations sooner or later. Getting old has consequences! As anyone who has ever gotten old has probably noticed.
Nevertheless—it’s also true that a) some people are remarkably strong and resilient no matter the circumstances, and b) most of us (maybe “all”?) are capable of much more than we initially think.
Energy Stories
That’s what got me thinking about the stories we tell ourselves. We tell ourselves all kinds of stories, of course, but a consistent through-line relates to energy. I’m strong, I’m weak, I’m fast, I’m slow, I’m tired, and so on.
Some of these stories may be true, others may be falsehoods, and some are half-truths—which makes it complicated!
The point is that you’re always telling yourself an energy story, and you don’t always know how reliable the story is.
A very simple running trick is to divide the remaining distance into portions, then think only about how far you have to go to complete the next stage. Once you reach it, you move on to the next, all while subtracting a stage from the total number.
It’s silly how effective this is. Like I said, there are real limits, but they’re usually further out than they first appear. You can do more than you think.
Without pretending that limitations don’t exist, I’m trying to tell better energy stories to myself. Like this week: it’s no fun that you hurt your back, you’ll need a short recovery period, but life goes on and so will you.
What energy story are you telling yourself today?
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