Thursday, September 24, 2015

Life Wheel

In something I was reading for work, I came across something about a "Life Balance Wheel."  It has a circle divided into areas of the person's life: 


Career,
Personal Growth,
Fun and Recreation,
Time Alone,
Partner/Romance,
Family,
Friends/Social Life,
Health and Exercise,
Spirituality,
Financial.

And when I read that, it hit me -- running (and boot camp) is what fills a lot of my circles!


It's fun and recreational -- aside from travel, it's probably one of the most fun activities I do with any regularity.


It's one of the things I love doing with my husband. 


It's my time with friends and it's a big part of my social life.  I run/boot camp with many of my dearest fiends -- feel free to draw your own conclusions about cause/correlation -- when you run with someone, you spend hours talking to them every week, so you'd better hope it's someone you like.  I'm very lucky there, and I know it.  I don't spend tons of time on the phone with out of town friends, and the local friends I spend the most time talking to are definitely working out friends.  Sure, I'm emailing with people while injured, and people have stopped by to sign my cast and commiserate, but it's not the same as spending hours chatting per week. 


It's my health and exercise.  I have been trying to go to boot camp the last few days and just stay on my mat, doing abs and arms and stuff, but yikes, not really burning any calories at all.  I've been struggling to find any cardio I can actually do in this cast, but honestly, even if I found something, I'm not wild about it since I've noticed sweating in the cast is very uncomfortable and makes it even itchier. 


It's what I spend most of my "fun money" on, so I guess the financial part of my life is better without it?  Not really, since it's fun money and I don't really spend a ton on it. 


And in a lot of ways, it's where I feel like I set goals and have personal growth. 


So what now?????? 


I know there's a lot more to my life than running/boot camp, and I know with certainty I'll be back as soon as this ankle is healed, but right now, I'm mostly just crying in my beer at my own little pity party. 


Going to the doctor again this morning to get this stupid itchy cast off.  And I find out what's next.  Another cast for 8 weeks?  A brace of some sort?  Or (my hope, hope, hope), the "all healed, good luck in the marathon next weekend"?! 
Haha, wishful thinking.  It's still pretty sore and I'm worried about what the doc will say. 

6 comments:

  1. haha - this is funny but sad. I have definitely noticed the tendency I call 'injured runner's introspection'.

    But it is also important - because I feel like life is a series of Venn Diagrams, which sometimes overlap and other times do not. I feel like my running intersects less with other things than for others such as yourself, but this morning where it was very foggy and I extended my run and it was after 6:10 when I got home (usually by 6AM) and Lisa was worried ... it was a reminder that it is NOT as isolated as I might think. :)

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  2. Oh ... and while I think you should mentally quit the marathon NOW, I really hope that whatever the doctor says is positive and gets you to full recovery really fast!

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  3. i'm almost exactly 1 month post-ankle sprain/distal aclusion (aka: "mild" fracture) that was nowhere near as bad as what you did and i'm going to be in my boot for another 2+ weeks per the doc today as i still have pain when i move my foot in certain ways

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  4. Oh no! I missed a lot here. Didn't know you were in a cast!!! Hope you're healed soon.

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  5. When activity is such a huge part of your life any injury is even more debilitating both mentally and physically. I no how you're feeling about the marathon. I hope you are feeling a lot better by now.

    I am envious of the social aspect to your running life. I occasionally run with one friend, but our goals and attitude toward running are so different it is often more frustrating than enjoyable. I keep trying to find a running group. I really think I may have to start one in my area. It would be so nice to run with likeminded friends.

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