Journaling, Global Warming, and Taking the Long View

One of the regrets I have is not starting this blog sooner. 

I should have started it right after the accident.  It is quite cathartic to put these things out there, even if read by a just a few.  Or, at least I should have kept a journal to describe how I am feeling on a daily basis.  Without it, now, I am subject to comparing how I feel today versus how I felt yesterday or the day before.  At the most, I can compare today to a week ago.  My memory just can't back far enough to know exactly how I was feeling any more than that.  I often end up feeling like I am stuck and I haven't made any progress at all.  Which isn't true.

My own situation, for some reason, makes me think about Global Warming.  Not to get political but sometimes I wonder if the planet warming is only a brief period of warming in the history of the planet and in 200 years we will be in another ice age.  Or something like that.  Another thing I think about is the stock market.  If we watch the line graph on one day the stock looks like a loser but it you spread out the graph over 5 years, the view is totally different.  The stock is continually up.  That one day was just small insignificant blip. 

What does this have to do with recovery?  It means that what really counts is the long term progress we make and not the fact that we have a bad day or week or month.  If we are progressing, then a slow, painful day doesn't really matter.  It is a just a day.

If we take the long view then the short term decline in our progress is just a short term decline.  It is temporary.  It doesn't mean anything.

And if I were new to an injury or about to get a knee replacement, I would start a journal right away.  It will help when several months out and you are having a bad day.  You will be able to see that you have made a ton of progress.  Because progress is never linear and it goes up and down.  But as long it is heading upwards, you have nothing to worry about.  It just takes time.

Just keep the long view and keep your eye on the prize.

Thanks for reading...