First, know this: When I write posts of this nature, they reflect what I am going through or working through at the moment. They represent my experience, and more important, my interpretation of that experience. I choose to see life the way I do because it makes me happy…
Yesterday morning I was thinking about a friend I hadn’t seen since my recovery party on the 18th of last month. He is a very close friend of mine, one of my best friends. It was just a fleeting thought, “I wonder how James is doing?” Then I thought I should give him a call and see if he wants to grab a cup of coffee. This was one of those “should I listen to this little voice” or “ignore it” moments.
I called up my friend and we made plans for dinner rather than coffee. I called my wife, let her know what was up, and went about my day.
We were half-way through dinner when my friend asked me if I knew the significance of the day to him…. He said he’d planned on just sitting home all evening and just stewing in the memories, loss and sorrow. Last night was the fifth anniversary of his father passing away and instead of isolating he was out with me, talking and working through it.
Do you remember that story about the guy who heard a small voice in his mind that said to go buy some milk, so he follows that instruction? Long story short, he ends up stopping at an unfamiliar house with that milk and giving it to a down-on-her-luck mother who needed it. This gist is, God guided the man to do what needed be done – the man just had to listen to that voice. Well for me, last night was the real-world application of that mythical story.
Some people call it “the still, small voice”, others call it a Higher Power, still others call it God – whatever you choose to call it, I can’t express how important it is to listen to it – and more importantly, discerning which is “the still, small voice” and which is the ego trying to get your butt into trouble.
Now that covers recovery more than fitness, right? Well hang on a second…
Folks, where recovery meets fitness in this neat little story is that recovery isn’t just about staying sober. It’s about helping others recover as well. It’s passing along that which was freely given to us… In other words, recovery is about people. It’s about doing good things and passing it along through our experience, strength and hope. Fitness, at its most enjoyable, is about the people we get and stay fit with.
If you tend to manage your fitness alone and find yourself in a rut, try meeting some like-minded people and get out of yourself a little bit. Make your fitness about getting fit and helping others. It’ll add a dimension to your enjoyment of life that is hard to describe decently in a simple blog post. It’s the difference between wandering through life, and walking through it with purpose and meaning. Enjoy it and embrace it, my friends. It’s not to be missed.
Fit Recovery 
This is the best and so very true.
Thanks, Tammi.
Amen. Works if you work it. Matthew 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Exactly.