FOCUS

adjusting and regaining focus

At noon on Monday July 9th not only did my feet fly up in the air, my shoes go into outer space, my cell phone slide into home plate, my wallet fly into the bushes, and my Starbucks glass do a double gainer and land in a million pieces on the cement alongside me, my entire being and existence was changed in that moment. Everything was out of focus and for the rest of the week it remained that way with the exception of anything pertaining to my injured wrist.

 Within 24 hours of surgery on Friday afternoon as the healing truly began, my focus moved away from my wrist and back to the rest of my life. I became keenly aware of the limitations that now were part of my world for the unforeseeable future and my focus began to zoom in on the things I was unable to do, the tasks I could not complete and the completely dismantled life now thrust upon me. This state of mind brought random and uncontrollable moments of sadness and tears. After several of these moments, my daughter asked me, what was wrong? My inability to respond with anything other than a shrug and I don't know, made me I believe I should probably figure out what was wrong.

 It didn't take me long to realize that not only did all of my belongings and body fly in the air and land on the ground, but everything about me, my routines, my schedules, my plans, my to-do list, also went flying in the air and landed on the ground. To me that meant not only did my arm and wrist need to heal and recover but I also needed a healing and recovering plan for the rest of my life and that plan for healing and recovering began by adjusting my focus.

Step one:

Stop dwelling on the things you cannot do and focus on the things you can do.

Small victories going long way when you're in a healing and recovery process.

Over the next couple days I spent my time thinking about the things I could do and working on the things I could do and rewarding myself for doing the things I could do.

• I could get up in the morning and make my bed.
• I could make my way downstairs and start a pot of coffee.
• I could still walk for exercise.  Side note: I know how many steps it is to go up-and-down my driveway, to walk around the perimeter of my property and even how many steps it takes to walk around my kitchen table.
• I could read.
• I could do my morning devotions.
• And quickly became very handy using talk to text!

By Sunday evening I was no longer having those moments of sadness followed by tears, but was feeling pretty good about myself and confident in those things I could do. I went to bed prepared for Monday morning to arrive and tackle the next step in healing and recovery.