Stand Up!

I recently had surgery.?It was a fairly major surgery and I was hospitalized for 5 days. Shortly after I came out of recovery, I thought I heard my nurse tell my husband that they wanted to get me up as soon as possible for me to walk.?I was still quite foggy from the anesthesia, so I thought I was dreaming.?Surely this person wasn’t crazy enough to think I was getting up anytime soon!?I was thinking, “Don’t they know I just had surgery?? That crap HURT!”

Well, I wasn’t dreaming, and they were serious.?Recently, I Googled the reason why this is so important.?This is what I found...

Walking (soon after trauma) promotes blood flow of oxygen throughout the body while maintaining normal breathing functions. Ambulation stimulates circulation which can help stop the development of stroke-causing blood clots. Walking improves blood flow which aids in quicker wound healing.

Wow, they were pushing me deeper into discomfort in order to save me from having an even worse situation!?Upon reflection I realized that, like many others, when I feel discomfort or pain my default reaction is often to stop moving.?When things aren’t going well for me in business (or other areas of my life) sometimes I get downright paralyzed.

The second thing that blew my mind while in the hospital was, when I finally embraced the fact that I had to get up and walk painful as it was, was what the nurse told me as I was struggling to get down the hall.? He firmly said, “Stand up straight!”.? Now, may I remind you that this was merely hours after a surgery where they removed part of my colon???? I was neary offended (if I’m being real, I was completely pissed) when he said this…. Until he explained why.

He said, “When you walk hunched over, though it may feel uncomfortable to walk upright, it causes you to heal in that compromised position.” He went on to say, “You will begin to develop scar tissue, and when you actually feel like standing up straight, it will be extremely difficult because you have to practically tear the scar tissue that develops as you are healing in order to stand up completely”.? WOW!

I’m the kind of person who embraces “why and how”.?Once I understand how something works, or why something is important, I am generally all in.?Although it was seriously uncomfortable to stand up straight, once I did, it wasn’t bad at all.?As I am continuing to heal, if I am inclined to hunch over to avoid discomfort, I am reminded of my wise nurse’s instructions and I immediately stand up straight.

What I’ve learned throughout this situation is that most times sitting in the discomfort for too long only makes an uncomfortable situation worse.?During this time of recovery and quiet, I’m reminded of the areas in my business that stagnated, not because I didn’t know what to do, but because I stopped growing when the discomfort became too much.?Instead of stretching myself and moving through the pain, I sat in the discomfort and allowed it to become my norm.

I am writing this very personal story in hopes of you recognizing where you might have stalled in your healing or in your growth.? Take a moment and think through your recent (or not so recent) history.

Have you found yourself trying to have sales conversations only to get rejection after rejection - which caused you to pause your momentum?? How long has it been since you’ve been consistently visible in your business? Did you pull back after someone made a negative comment on something you posted?? When did you last launch a new product or service? Did you halt all forward movement when no one made a purchase?

You may have developed “scar tissue” in your sales process and because of the discomfort you’ve talked yourself into thinking, “I’m no good at sales”.?Maybe you’ve convinced yourself that selling is creepy, stalky, or inauthentic.?That may just be the place you stopped growing.? As uncomfortable as it might be, stand up and get back to it.?You can grow past the place where you stopped.??

I’m here to help if you want someone to walk through it with you.

Tish Times is the founder of Tish Times Sales Agency. For more than 10 years, Times has been empowering business owners to create revenue-generating business connections, shorten the sales cycle, and close sales with ease. You can find her at www.TishTimes.com.