“Setbacks”–and What to Do!! — 2 October 2014

Man!  Have you ever been cruising  along accomplishing anything and everything that you touch when, POW!!!! Something happens to totally stop you in your tracks?  All of us have testimonials to these horrors that can make us downright suicidal if we let them. Let me be selfish here and tell you about the “POW” event that I just experienced.

Story:

I was training hard each and every morning with my magnificent wife who stays close to me always.  As you know, my goal given to me by my coach, is to move my weight up from 173 lbs (22 June 2014) at last contest to between 198 lbs and 212 lbs for the nationals in July 2015.  I was up to 195 lbs and eating 5,000 – 7,000 calories per day and all seemed perfect and on schedule……Suddenly, my son comes home with nausea, vomiting, fever, body aches, chills, headache, diarrhea, serious fatigue etc.  I picked him up at the train station (he goes to the University of Utah and commutes south to Provo) and he was quaking and baking with rigors.  He turns up my car heater to full blast and he wraps himself in the blanket I brought along.  His teeth chattered and he shook violently all the way home.  Upon arriving at home he tossed his ill body into bed and he stayed there all night.  His illness went on like this for a couple of days and he crapped so much that I thought he was going to totally dehydrate from the loss of body fluids.  Eventually, he got better and he returned to his life as a pathetic student.

About 2 days later, I got the same illness with all of the same manifested symptoms.  I weighed 195 lbs and I was eating like a horse and training like a dog when “the train ran over me.”  I hit the bed and pulled all the covers over me.  I breathed very heavy as my fever went through the ceiling.  I sucked down Aleve, Advil, Aspirin until my ears began to ring.  Summarily, after 3 days I finally started to get better.  That day is today.  The net result is that I have lost 7 lbs in 2.5 days and I feel very icky!  Dumb as I am I went the gym 2 out 3 of my sick days to work out.  I am still with a “chippy” stomach but I am again pounding down the food to make up for what I did not take the last 3 days.  I ate 8 eggs, 1 bagel with slathering of butter, 1 slice of toast.  Later, I ate 4 oz. Rice, 3 Tbsp Mayonnaise, some vegetables, 8 ounces of chicken breast, and 3 pieces of pizza with an avocado….Much more food to eat today and everyday.

When I saw that I had lost 7 lbs I was crest fallen.  All that work, I moaned!  All I could think about is how I was going to put it all back.  I thought my coach was going to brain me for being so stupid to allow myself to be infected. I was a nervous wreck and a basket case.

I took a page out of my wife’s playbook.  She is forever saying that we can change the way we feel by how we think.  She quite literally, can will an illness to go away.

I have changed my fatalistic approach to recovery with optimism.  I didn’t get this big by working less but by working more.  So, I sat for a minute and mulled my other options. After awhile, I made up my mind to NOT accept what comes.  I HAD to gain that weight back and I could not wait.  I wrote a note to my coach telling him what happened.  I got my butt up off the floor (literally) where I was sulking and jumped in the shower with my wife who was getting ready to go to the gym herself.  Bang! (not really) we were back on the same sheet of music and we were moving again.  I was determined to put Christine’s “MOJO” to work for me this time rather than make fun of her as usual.

My workout today was “awesome!”  I pushed my triceps, biceps, and traps to new areas of pain.  I was exhausted and now I am happy again to be on the trail.  Thank you to God for allowing me to see the error of my ways in my wife.  I will keep you posted as I move ahead.  However, the big lesson here is that we “REALLY” can change how we feel and respond to life by changing the way we think of our challenge.

Let me submit to all of us that since this is “OUR TIME” we direct our energies toward the problem at hand rather than the feelings of defeat we feel.  The problems are real but the feelings belong to you “for the changing.”…..if you choose!

Douglas E. Graham