On Potential and Participation..

I spend a lot of time with people who are frightened of moving.  Or who have given up the desire to help themselves.  This happens for a variety of reasons. It underpins the majority of my days when visiting patients in their homes.   

On an other note, today at the clinic, I was perched on top a plinth with one of my patients lying below me while I stretched his hamstrings. A co-worker walked by and mentioned something about running a race I had planned.  My patient looked up at me and asked, "Are you a runner?"

Surprisingly, in the first second of self evaluation,  I was about to deny the fact that I was a runner. That I was only training to be a runner. Or perhaps, well no, I'm really not a runner because I've only been running for less than a year. But in between that first and then second heartbeat, thoughts flooded back to me of my latest long runs, countless 3, 4, and 5 mile runs, and my newly acquired treadmill skills.  I resisted the self deprecating reply I had initially formed and rewarded myself. "Yes", I said. "I am a runner".  For me, at that moment, I was aware of what a powerful (and empowering) statement it was. I have said it before digitally, but it's another thing to answer outright and believe it when asked up close and personal.

I'm not just a runner because I run, but because I enjoy the process. 
I enjoy who I've become, how I feel during and after the run. How my thinking continues to become clearer despite the ravages of menopause. I run because it makes me better - in all contexts. I run because through it, I'm finding out more about who I am, what I'm capable of - what I can become. This is what I have learned because I run.

 We are all organic machines of flesh and blood designed to move.  We are born to move. To deny ourselves that fundamental process condemns us to apathy, vulnerability and disease. Movement is the bridge that unites our consciousness and physical body.  We are all so worth discovering our potential through this evolutionary gift. This is what running has also taught me.

So, coming back to my opening paragraph- oh, my home bound charges, if you could just see yourselves as I do - a body that has aged, yes - but has the potential to improve, regardless. Movement is healing to both body and mind. Your body needs to move, it is yearning for it.. please, resist sitting on the sidelines. 
Participate in your recovery!