OK, so I've been thinking about this for a few days and decided to go ahead and post. I figure, you'll either find it interesting and insightful, or think I'm nuts, but hey...
This week I was doing one of my training runs (I'm doing couch to 5K) and I caught my toe on a heaved bit of sidewalk and went flying.
Don't worry - I'm OK. See, I fall well. Actually, I fall REALLY well; I've had lots of practice
; as a child I was a gymnast and took lessons for about seven years. I know for a fact that a good portion of that time was spent learning to fall. Some of the specific stuff I remember, but what's come in handy for me as an adult, with my natural inclination toward falling, is that my body remembers all of it - muscle memory they call it.
So, in that split second after I went airborn while my mind was going "oh, crap try not to land on the dog," my body took charge. I rotated, brought my weight down gently without locking any contact joints, rolled over my shoulder, and came to a stop on my back with my legs in the air. Heck, I even managed to keep the poop sack (post-poo) at a good distance from myself during the whole process. Sure, I probably looked a right fool to the people in the cars going by, but after a moment lying there assessing myself I was able to get back up and continue my run, a bit shaken but in good shape.
So, I found myself thinking about this: The trick about falling well is to do it in such a way as to minimize potential damage and make sure you'll be able to get back on your feet. And dang, but I wish I'd spent those 7 years learning the equivalent about dieting! Too often in weightloss, we think of falling as failing, and throw away all our work as a result.
So, can I do it now? Can I learn to fall correctly in weightloss? Is there some equivalent that I can teach myself so that when I fall in dieting I
do it in such a way as to minimize potential damage and make sure I'll be able to get back up on my feet? And am I willing to commit to practicing this new skill, knowing it may take years for it to become imprinted in my muscle memory, and knowing that it means I'll have to be OK with falling as part of the learning process?
Like I said, this has sort of stuck with me the last few days, so I wanted to share. Maybe it will be useful to some of you, or maybe you'll decide I must have hit my head on the concrete and just don't remember.
Wishing everyone a happy journey, falls and all.
Amarie