It is often said that we learn more from adversity than we do when everything is going to plan. I was reflecting on this recently and I remembered something that happened to me a few years ago.
After completing a half marathon run, I developed serious, debilitating back pain which meant I had to stop running for a while. Indeed, most physical activity became impossible during that period. Previously I would have just reached for some pain killers to numb the pain and carry on, but on this occasion the pain killers provided very little relief … indeed I was still in such pain that I wondered what it would feel like without them!
This was something that was very hard to deal with as I have always been active. I played hockey at school, later turning my hand to bicycles (both road and BMX). I love playing squash and tennis (although it’s been a while since I last played) and more recently it’s running, HIIT training and, in the summer months, touch rugby have become my means of keeping fit.
Fortunately a friend recommended a local chiropractor, with whom I agreed during our initial consultation that I wanted to get back to an active lifestyle, without drugs and without surgery if possible. With that aim I commenced a 3 month treatment programme that ultimately got me back out there, running and being active again.
During this treatment we discovered a number of factors that were contributing to my back pain, and while the length of time it took to get me back to pain-free activity was frustrating, what I quickly learned was that these contributing factors had been there for years, in the background seemingly harmlessly, but always just quietly accumulating until this tipping point was reached. Something that had taken years to build up was not going to be fixed overnight, and certainly not just with pain killers!
Through this process I learned a lot about myself, my body and how to better look after myself beyond just being active. I learned to look more closely at what may be causing the pain and identify ways to address these causes rather than resorting to a quick-fix syptom based approach. I firmly believe that I am in a better place now having been through those challenges.
It’s often said that even in the most challenging of situations that we find ourselves in, there’s a lesson in there somewhere. Whilst it is often not clear at the time, when we look back, we can often see that what we have been through has taught us something.
My message to you is, when adversity strikes try to find the space and time to look for the lesson, or at the very least keep pushing on and eventually when you come out the other side you will see the lesson.
Patrick Hickman 