One of the facts of life is that people grow old. This didn’t really sink in for me until one summer ago, when I pulled a muscle playing basketball because I didn’t stretch beforehand.
The thing is, I never had to stretch beforehand.
After that incident, others followed. I injured my pinky finger, my back started to act up from a previous snowboarding injury, and I managed to hurt the left side of my body (shoulder, knees, hips) at varying points during the semester from several bike/scooter/longboard falls.
Recently, I’ve been dealing with a knee overuse injury, and for the first time in my life, I’m wearing a brace of some sort to allow me to continue playing sports.
If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the feeling of physical limitations – having the mentality but not the physicality to support it. You want to make that jumper, grab that rebound, or just push the limits, but your body can’t keep up.
For you older people reading this, you’re probably scoffing and thinking how lucky I am to have my youth. And I agree. It’s something that I need to learn to not to take for granted. After all, my body will continue to age, and once my time is up, I’ll have no use for it any longer.
I have a long way to go in growing up and maturing, but I think that realizing the limitations of age is a good first step. I know I won’t be young forever, so I’m thankful every passing day for what I currently have as I prepare for future years.
Walker and cane at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.
