Courage

There are a number of women in my life who are recovering and recuperating from injuries or surgeries (or about to have surgery).  They all seem to be making progress, but each of them wants to be further than they are now.  I completely understand this.  It is frustrating not to be completely self sufficient or not to be able to do the things that bring up joy (and sanity).  Some of my girls will not walk for weeks, some will walk but cannot run or cannot do the "normal" things that make up their lives.  No matter what the situation, each wants to be doing more and feeling better.
When I broke my leg three and a half years ago, I was in the same place.  For a month, I hopped around on crutches before I could put weight on my foot.  I could make myself a cup of coffee, but I couldn't bring it to the table to drink it.  I could feed and change Isabel (who was three months old at the time) but I could not carry her.  I had a five year old, a three year old, a three month old and four weeks on crutches.  My worries about losing baby weight and maybe training for races were long gone.  I could not prepare a meal for my family.  I could not do laundry.  I needed help.  I needed to heal.
These are the times in our lives when we need accept both our limitations and (when needed) the help of others.  Our bodies need time to recover and recuperate and we owe it to ourselves to take that time.  It takes some degree of courage to do this; courage to accept that we cannot do the things that we want to do; courage to lower our expectations of ourselves.  This is a difficult thing to do.
For my girls who are living this right now, I hope that they can be gentle with themselves as their bodies heal.