I seem to have a penchant for random  injuries and illnesses — nothing ever super serious, but enough to throw me off my game for a bit. Recently, it was a torn up foot that got infected (I’ll spare you a photo) and a mysterious arm injury that I’m assuming happened during a soccer game, but I’m still not really sure.

Although I’m not a fan of going to the doctors for every little injury, I have learned to listen to my body — when it is telling me to take a break, I need to take a break. Right now, I’m on one of those breaks, and they aren’t always a lot of fun. Between my foot and my shoulder,  I’ve been fairly limited in what I could do as far as physical activities. Yoga was out as simple poses irritated my arm, and soccer was on hold until I could fit my swollen foot back into my cleats (or any shoe, for that matter). Although I’m finally back to soccer, I’m still on a hiatus from yoga. I’ve learned a lot through my time off.

The biggest lesson?

Don’t complain about the “down time” — do something productive with it! Just because I’ve been unable to do some of the things I love doesn’t mean I’m going to complain about it (most of the time, anyways). Time that I would normally spend doing yoga I have been working on my side projects, helping out in different ways at the yoga studio, catching up with friends, and just taking time to relax by myself (totally guilty of a Netflix binge or two lately…).

This type of set back always reminds me of a saying my dad used to drill into us: “attitude determines altitude.” Your attitude in the down times — whether it’s physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual — defines what you will get out of those times and how you will grow.

So don’t be afraid to listen to your body and take a break. Your body does a lot for you — it’s okay to rest. Just make sure you have a good attitude doing it and don’t waste that time 🙂

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” — Winston Churchill