Patience & Pain.
September 03, 2014
Often times I find myself thinking way too deeply about seemingly pointless things. You're about to find out what I'm talking about.
I've learned a lot these past few years at college but the biggest thing I've learned is that you NEVER know what anyone is going through. You never know the pain someone is facing, or has faced, or is in the process of overcoming. It sounds really cliche but it's a lesson I've learned time and time again when I find myself becoming impatient at times with people. Wondering why they act a certain way, especially if it's negative--even if that negativity doesn't directly affect me. I find myself to be a pretty empathetic person but occasionally it takes some work.
I find myself at time wishing people could accomplish certain tasks quicker than they do (& I'm not even a mom yet haha), or wishing they'd do them to a certain standard that I've deemed as "golden". When really, I shouldn't do that. It's not my job. And I learned that about myself tonight at the gym.
So Tyler & I went to the gym for the first time tonight in FOREVER. Both of us were feeling horrendously out of shape, which is disappointing. I found myself running on the track being frustrated that I wasn't able to run like I used to [refer to this post]. As I was running around the track, struggling, I felt as though people were judging me. Even though I highly doubt people were even looking at me & wondering why I was going so slow, or was having to walk a lap here and there. I ran a whopping half mile.
Now let me explain a little background to this experience.
Yesterday was labor day, so to celebrate not having work Tyler & I decided to go for a hike!
It was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Overall it was around 8 miles round trip. Compared to my gym experience tonight, the hike was completely different. We were both able to complete the hike without feeling like complete losers haha.
At the end of the hike, however, I was in pretty decent pain. Wearing shoes I had neglected for most of the summer, my feet didn't fare too well. We got home and my feet hurt pretty bad. I took off my shoes to assess the damage and was surprised to find out what I thought were little blisters were pretty decent sized blisters that had popped throughout our hike. I attempted to wash my feet (hence why they look so disgusting in these photos, I wasn't too successful) and we wrapped my feet in athletic tape.
Throughout the night I couldn't sleep because I was in such pain--from blisters, right?! I had no idea blisters could be so painful given that I've had tons of them in my life. In the morning I prepared to go to work and walking wasn't extremely easy, embarrassingly enough.
This is how my feet looked in shoes this morning haha!
Anyways, to tie everything back into the gym tonight, it wasn't that I couldn't run farther because I was out of shape, but because my feet were in so much pain. No one could see the giant blisters on the soles of my feet. I'm sure if people saw how I was struggling they just thought I was out of shape, or was starting to get back in shape, whatever the reason. But me running tonight with blisters on my feet retaught me the lesson of "you can't always see other people's pain", and that I shouldn't judge when others move slower than expected or hoped for. As long as people are doing their best with whatever they've got on their shoulders, all is well with them. Who knows who is attempting to run this life with metaphorical blisters on their feet. I love this quote from Elder Holland: "Broken minds can be healed just the way broken bones and broken hearts are healed. While God is at work making those repairs, the rest of us can help by being merciful, nonjudgmental, and kind."
I can only hope that I can better incorporate this concept into my life with my fellow men, but especially being a wife and someday a mother--I sure have got a lot of work to do.
I can only hope that I can better incorporate this concept into my life with my fellow men, but especially being a wife and someday a mother--I sure have got a lot of work to do.
-meg.
0 ounces of lovin'