How To Live With a Broken Wing

It only takes five minutes for your life to be turned completely upside down. I was reminded of this harsh fact on Christmas Day. 

This December, marked the first year since I started rollerskating. After only one year of roller skating, I figured out that I had found something I truly loved, something that makes me feel alive and present. But then on Christmas Day with one silly slip of the wheels, I broke my arm. And while much worse things could’ve happened, the break rocked my world. 

Skating was temporarily taken away from me. Something that I loved so much, something that I looked forward to every day would have to be put on hold for a few months. And while it may not seem like a lot, an injury can be a real check-in with our bodies and our even our emotional states. It can feel like a major defeat… a failure even. But isn't that life? 

On my roller skating journey

As I get older, and more and more hard times come and pass, I came to know this one true constant. Well two actually, change and defeat. 

 Change will always be there. It is a never-ending cycle of ups, downs, and in-betweens. And with each change, you change a little bit. Each day, each week, each month, and each year transforms you into a new person.  

You’re constantly evolving and constantly changing. And over time, I’ve learned that things come and go. People come and go. And oftentimes, the same experiences will play out again at different points in your life. But, that same experience affects you differently because you’re different now. 

The second constant, “defeat” is the same as change. It will keep coming up in some form or another. And I know that sounds bad, but it's true. Life is hard. And, in this life, you will lose people you love. You will suffer heartbreak, and you may break an arm.  

Sometimes broken wings happen

Things are going to happen, but it's how you handle them that really counts. It's how you take these unpleasant experiences, these hard times, it’s and what you make of them. Without these hard times, you would not be who you are.  

Difficulties are going to find you, but they in no way define you. What really defines you is how you handle the hard times.  

Sometimes hard times require a full surrender, a full stop whether it’s physical or mental. And even though stops are difficult, they give us sacred time to reflect. Just look at when we all had to be locked in our houses for two weeks. What happened?

#journey

The quarantine was uncomfortable for sure, and we all faced different degrees of suffering. And while some of us sacrificed more than others during the COVID-19 shutdown; I wouldn’t say it all bad in some ways. The quarantine forced us to look at how we spend our time, and in that it made us realize what really matters to us and how we should be spending our time. 

My point is that hard times strengthen us and give us the ability to overcome. It is that strength of overcoming that helps us evolve, become better, and prepares us for harder times in the future. For now, I still have a cast on. And I’m not going to lie, I’m still really bummed about not skating.  

However, I do realize that this broken wing of mine is here to teach me something. I will nurture it, I will rest, but I in no way will be defeated. This powerful lesson is a gift, one I will rise above in the end. And soon when I'm ready I will fly again, maybe even higher than I could soar before.

Hard times make you grow