Adjusting is not quitting.

I finished my Pilates teacher training in Toronto last Sunday – thank you Body Harmonics! I’m feeling great and have confidence that I will be a good and effective teacher. It’s due to the outstanding instruction I’ve gotten from Sarah Stoker at Pony Locale here in St. John’s and the amazing teacher training from Larisa Makuch and Margot McKinnon at Body Harmonics. The excellence of the the instruction I’ve received notwithstanding, I’m happy and confident because Pilates suits me. It fits well with my personality and where I am currently; in life, location, and in the time since my brain injury. Pilates wasn’t even in my mind 5 years ago and if you had asked me about taking on Pilates before my brain injury, I wouldn’t have been interested. I am now though. Very interested. And happy and confident too.

I didn’t write this post to talk about Pilates, but about change, about adjustment after, in my case, a very serious brain injury. It’s about having an open mind and knowing that just because adjustment is tough, especially at a challenging point in your life, it doesn’t mean trying something new is a waste of time. Just the opposite actually. While having an unwanted challenge thrown at you can be tough, a challenge you give yourself can be exhilarating! It doesn’t even have to mean a drastic change in your mindset, just a different activity. Before my brain injury, playing water polo and cycling were activities from which I got a lot of enjoyment. I would still love to play a game of water polo like I used to. I would still love to hop on a bike and just ride all day. That doesn’t happen anymore, but, after finally listening to my sister, with encouragement from physios, I decided to try something that keeps me motivated, interested, and looking to improve. Maybe it was something you used to do, but ‘life got in the way’ and you stopped. Maybe it’s something you do every day and would like to know more about. Or maybe it’s something that has never even crossed your mind.

There are aggravating and depressing times while recovering, but those times don’t need to last forever. Instead of refusing yourself of any happiness until you recover all of the abilities you think you have lost, embrace the opportunity to try something different. Whatever that is.