Finding meaning in the less positive

Everything happens for a reason.

Every heard that quotation? I think it's a load of cr*p, quite frankly. There are countless things that happen that are meaningless and do no good for anyone or anything. There is something I do believe though:

You can come out of negative situations a stronger person.

This knee injury really knocked me for a loop. I had just gotten the motivation and drive to do something new and to step outside my boundaries. I had started running, and was riding my bike more. I had started a swimming lesson. My eating was really on track.

Then I hurt my knee and I moped around a lot. I started feeling sorry for myself and I spent about a week doing very little and eating too much.

The right way to approach it? Absolutely not. But, reflecting on it is giving me some insight into how I could have dealt with it differently, and how I will deal with it next time it happens. Because, it will happen again. Almost certainly. Taking the weight off my body will make it more resilient and more able to deal with the stresses I throw at it. However, if I intend to continue pushing myself and if I want to eventually claim the title of "triathlete", I will almost certainly continue to have the occasional injury or setback, no matter how careful I am.

The other positive that has come out of this is my progress in swimming. Just a month ago, I was nervous about taking a swimming lesson and terrified of going into deep water. After I got over the worst of my knee pain, I realized that the way out of my lethargy was through swimming and I confronted my fear of the deep end of the pool. I honestly don't know when I would have taken that step otherwise.

So, despite my frustration with the situation, I am coming out of this a stronger person and a better person. I know more about myself and I have realized that I am capable of more then I gave myself credit for.

The knee is feeling better. Every morning when I wake up, it's feeling better then the morning before. By the evening, it aches, particularly if I've been on my feet a lot, but it's no longer the acute pain that feels like it's getting worse. I figure I'll be back on the bike by the middle of this week, and I'm hoping to run next weekend. We'll see. I'm also trying to listen to my body and not push it too hard.

And I'm still swimming.