Comfortable With Crutches

Just because you’ve been sidelined doesn’t mean you have to stay on the sidelines.

Comfortable With Crutches

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In my junior year in High School, I led the Men’s softball league in runs scored for a single season.  Ok, let me caveat this by saying it was Men’s Church League softball, but our team traveled, competed, and won in many Open League tournaments in the region.

The funny thing about that stat is that I had only a handful of “at-bat” opportunities and only played a limited amount of time in the outfield.  That year, the League instituted a “Courtesy Runner” rule that allowed a coach to substitute a runner for any player who got on base, for any reason. Many of the tournaments also permitted this practice.

My batting average was good, but not that good.  My throwing arm was okay, but not that great.  My fielding (when it came to grounders) wasn’t as good as it could have been.  But, no one could catch me when I ran the bases.  And when the ball went deep into the outfield, the fielder needed a gun for an arm to get the ball to the plate before I got there.

So, when the League instituted this rule, I became the designated “runner” for the Team.

I lost count of the number of times I went in to run for another player on the Team. Let’s just say I spent a lot of time running the bases. I was having fun, getting to be on the “A-Team” with my heroes, and contributing with what I was good at doing – running like the wind.

We won our League that year and went on to compete in the State Tournament. In the final game of the tournament, I was making a run for home plate and as I slid to get under a tag, the catcher (a pretty big guy) stepped on my foot.  I felt something pop in my foot, but it didn’t really hurt.  I beat the throw and scored the run, and that’s what mattered at the moment.  I went back in a couple of times before the game ended, and noticed my foot felt funny, but I didn’t think much of it.

Later that night, as we were leaving the restaurant we stopped at for dinner, as I stepped up into the bus, I felt my foot pop once again, and this time I felt a rush of pain.  A visit to the doctor, and a series of X-rays, revealed that the stomp on my foot had severely damaged the ligaments and tendons in my foot.

The doctor told me I needed to stay off my foot for the next six weeks, at a minimum, to give the ligaments and tendons time to heal.  He prescribed some anti-inflammatory medication and crutches.  Six weeks, maybe more, on crutches. There went the football season.

The high school I attended was a two-story complex with no elevator.  Half of my classes were upstairs and the other half were downstairs.  It was up and down all day, every day.  Imagine having to do that, for six weeks, while on crutches.   I put my books in a backpack, got the teacher’s permission to leave class a few minutes early to beat the mad rush between classes, and navigated my way up and down the stairs.

After a couple of weeks, I was getting pretty good at moving around with my crutches.  I taught myself to skip every other stair in the stairwells (probably not the smartest move) and how to speed walk between classes.  A number of the girls in school felt sorry for me and would often walk with me between classes, helping me with my books.

I found myself getting comfortable with a limitation.

But at some point, I had to make a choice.

I could stay comfortable with a limitation, or I could do the hard work required to rehabilitate my injured foot and get back to what I loved to do, playing sports. It’s awful hard to play football or take karate lessons when you’re reliant on crutches to get around.

So, I had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Rehabbing my foot wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t fun. But I worked my way through the pain and discomfort and got back to doing what I loved to do.

There’s a leadership lesson here. (Why else would I tell this story?)

Just because you’ve been sidelined doesn’t mean you have to stay on the sidelines.

Life isn’t always fair.  Bad things can (and do) happen to good people.  Challenges, obstacles, and roadblocks often detour our progress on the road to success. Adversity can, and will, at times come our way.  There are only a handful of things we can truly control, and the rest we simply have to accept.  This, I talked about in my leadership lesson, “Stuck on a Ride” a few weeks back.

While we can’t always prevent bad things from happening, we can choose how we respond to adversity when it comes knocking on our door.  We can choose whether or not we want to get comfortable with the crutches and accept the limitation adversity has placed on us, or we can find the opportunity hidden within the adversity and turn adversity to our advantage.

Just because you’ve been sidelined doesn’t mean you have to stay on the sidelines.

Outlook determines outcome. This is something I’ve taught my six children since they were young. The way we approach a problem, our mindset at the moment, dictates whether or not we are going to remain stuck, focused on the problem, or find a way to keep moving forward, focused on the solution.

Yes, adversity is real.  We have to acknowledge it.  Pretending it isn’t happening is a lie and your subconscious will reject any such thoughts as disingenuous. The first step to overcoming adversity is an acknowledgment that adversity exists, and you are going through it, right now, at this moment.

Ask Helen Keller.

Born in 1890, Helen Keller became deaf and blind before the age of two, leaving her in an isolated world of silence and darkness. Unable to communicate, she became frustrated and was prone to emotional outbursts.

Imagine living in a world where you can’t see, you can’t hear, and you can’t communicate with those around you. It is a world of aloneness that few of us will ever experience.

Her adversity was real.

She could remain comfortable with the crutches, or find a way to cast them aside.

At the age of seven, Helen Keller met Annie Sullivan, who taught her how to communicate through tactical sign language. Through Annie’s perseverance and Helen’s desire to escape the aloneness she lived in, she learned to speak in a new and different way.

As a result of learning to read, write, and speak, Helen Keller became the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Radcliffe College in 1904. She went on to become an advocate for people with disabilities and a global symbol of courage, demonstrating that intellectual and personal growth can thrive in the life of an individual, even in the face of significant physical limitations.

Just because Helen Keller had been sidelined didn’t mean she had to stay on the sidelines.

She found a way to cast down the crutches and walk into her destiny.

Helen Keller models an important life lesson we all need to learn:

Adversity, rightly used, helps us to learn, grow, and become a better version of ourselves.

Helen Keller was able to stand before the world and proclaim:

“This is my story.  This is what I have overcome.”

So, what can we learn from Helen Keller’s story?

How you respond to adversity is a choice.

You can choose to allow adversity to have power over you and control you.  You let adversity define you and make you its slave. This happens when you give up, accept adversity as the final outcome, and stop trying to keep moving forward.  You choose to settle for less.

Or, you can choose to take power and control back from the adversity you’re facing and not allow adversity to define you. Rather than giving up, you choose instead to rise up, find the opportunity disguised as adversity, and live life as an overcomer.

Helen Keller chose the second alternative, and her life became a testament to the power of education, perseverance, and determination. She didn’t allow blindness or deafness to define her, instead choosing to become an influential figure who inspired others to overcome their disabilities and rise to their full potential.

Just because Helen Keller had been sidelined didn’t mean she had to stay on the sidelines.

She found a way to cast down the crutches and walk into her destiny.

Helen Keller models an important life lesson we all need to learn:

Adversity, rightly used, helps us to learn, grow, and become a better version of ourselves.

What about you?

What excuse are you making, right now, to justify the fact you’ve gotten comfortable with the crutches, and you’re okay with the limitations life has placed on you?   What excuse are you making, right now, to rationalize the fact you’ve allowed adversity to define you, control you, and hold you back from walking into your destiny? 

Remember, life isn’t always fair. Adversity can and will come your way. Your outlook determines your outcome. You get to choose whether you’re going to allow adversity to define you or you’re going to choose to define yourself.

Will you choose to remain comfortable with the crutches, or overcome adversity?

Just because you’ve been sidelined doesn’t mean you have to stay on the sidelines.

Remaining on the sidelines lets you watch and observe as other people win and achieve success, wishing and hoping for something more. That’s choosing to settle for less.

You were not put on this earth to settle for less.

Just because you’ve been sidelined doesn’t mean you have to stay on the sidelines.

Don’t get comfortable with the crutches.

Like Helen Keller, and all those she has inspired, you too can overcome adversity.

Your successful future awaits…