All in Good Time

I recently did some physical therapy for my shoulder. I’d been having pain that my doctor said would benefit from a few weeks of PT. That’s sports lingo for physical therapy. (I’m such a jock!)

After answering a series of questions, a physical therapist gave me exercises I could do at home, but also helped me work through specific movements under her watchful eye.

While doing the exercises, I was curious to hear her assessment of the problem. Was it arthritis? Bursitis? Tendinitis? (I may have spent a little time on Web M.D. before meeting with her.)

She said, “Oh, it’s nothing like that. I think the muscle just hasn’t been worked much, so that tightness is impacting the joint, and your posture is kinda weak so that compounds the problem.” Ouch.

Now I have always known that upper body strength wasn’t really my “thing”. I accepted this reality and moved on with life. However, now that I was having other issues, it was time to take a second look at the state of my “gun show”. (I’d even be happy with more of a water pistol situation)

After just a few days of tending to my shoulder and working with specific exercises, I noticed a difference in the tightness and pain in my shoulder.

It seems so obvious; invest time and effort into something that you are weak in and see progress, but how often do we actually put this into practice?

We are constantly looking for “magic bullets” in order to make progress; and while there can be helpful practices to incorporate, long term progress is found when we put in the time and work on the skill.

Additionally, for those areas where we want to achieve the status of mastering a skill, an even larger investment needs to be made.

Of course we all have varied interests. You can be a country-music fan, who loves to bake bread, enjoys camping, quilting, and watching documentaries on the Civil War. (If I added “long walks on the beach”, then I believe it automatically becomes a dating profile.)

However, if you wanted to grow your confidence in bread baking, I’d suggest you hit a pause on watching YouTube videos on quilting. It doesn’t cease to be an interest, but for a season you are not actively investing time.

When we spread ourselves too thin trying to learn more than one skill in the same season of time, we compromise the quality of what we are learning. By the same token, don’t allow the fact that we can’t immediately become a master stop us from taking any step.

Even the smallest investment of time can make a difference. Just pick something you want to become stronger at and start doing it every day or at least multiple times a week.

In a few months you will be amazed at your progress.

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I’d also love to hear more about specific goals or skills that people are wanting to grow. We all get better when we share the journey with others. Cheers!