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Change.

Change. That is the one word I can use to describe the last 6 months of my life. Between working 12 hour shifts, commuting in Chicago for 2 hours a day, planning a wedding, selling a house, finding a new job and moving to Kansas City without friends or family, life was flying by at 120 mph. I felt like a robot going through my days. Marking each hour by what I had accomplished and what I still needed to get done.
 
Upon arriving in Kansas City, life came to a halt. I wasn’t working initially since my physical therapy license still needed to be processed. And that’s when it hit… the realization of everything we had just done, excessive change/ stress and living a life only focused on the future.
 
I am not going to sugar coat this… this time for me was very difficult! My husband and I would literally “high-five” at the end of the day if I got through the day without crying. I felt out of focus and also confused by what my future held. For the first time in years I acknowledged that I needed to reevaluate my mindset. And guess what? It is not easy to accept that our actions and life are not what we want them to be.
 
Initially, I had been so excited about having that time off since life was so stressful. I also realized that going through the motions were no way to live life. Sitting on the couch one day in Kanas City I decided I needed to change…. I needed to get out of bed every day and re-focus my life. And here is what I found.

In life we seem to define ourselves by our work and by our roles, but when these are taken away what do we have? There is a great quote by the Dalai Lama. When asked what surprised him most about humanity the Dalai Lama answered: “Man sacrifices his health in order to make money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die and then dies having never really lived.” Wow. What insight.
 
Here is where my new journey began. First by acknowledging my faults: basing my importance on my career and constantly living for the future. This was eye opening. I slowly started to peel away the layers of what I “thought” was important and what I actually now BELIEVE is important. This time gave me the ability to understand what my next steps for my career should be and how to be a better person for my husband and myself.
 
This is where YOU come in! Everyone coming into our office is going through change, pain and/or dysfunction in their body.  You may not like a lot of the CHANGE going on. So lets start here. Lets start with acknowledging change and your pain, taking action against it and getting back to who YOU are! I welcome you to start practicing self love. Start by accepting yourself for who you are at the present moment. Then be kind to yourself as you start realizing what you need to change in your life to be your best self.

Kristin Anderson, PT, DPT, OCS, CLT

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