Always Something Vs. All-Or-Nothing Mentality: Overcoming Setbacks and Learning Resiliency

If there’s one thing that we can count on in life, it’s that we cannot control our surroundings. As someone who thrives on certainty and control, this has been a tough life lesson to learn. Setbacks are inevitable. We can plan and prepare, but the unfortunate reality is that life is always going to throw us a curveball, especially when we least expect it.

My Story

Recently, my whole life was turned upside down when I was rushed to the emergency room. Thankfully I was well enough to not need emergency surgery, and was released from the hospital on bedrest to recover. I was so upset, and cried a lot, because I value my health and make an effort to prioritize healthy eating and exercise. Unfortunately, the diagnosis isn’t preventable by a healthy, active lifestyle, so I felt really helpless that there wasn’t anything I could do to keep it from getting worse. Since then, I’ve learned that I need to keep my physical activity to a minimum until we find a suitable treatment option. When the doctor told me that I couldn’t do CrossFit classes for the time being for my safety, I was devastated. I was training 3-5x/week in group classes at CrossFit London and adored it. I love CrossFit. I love the hard work, the variety, and the way it pushes me to step outside of my comfort zone to achieve things I never dreamed were possible. I ESPECIALLY love the social aspect of classes and really miss training with all of my friends at the gym. Some days I feel a little stuck. It’s hard to accept the fact that it may be months until I can get back to regular training with my pals.

Although it’s been very difficult to sit on the sidelines and see everyone keep moving forward with their life while I’m in limbo, I made the decision that giving up isn’t the answer. No, I can’t run, jump, do CrossFit classes or very high intensity work, but I can still do SOMETHING. I can still row, cycle, perform many bodyweight movements, and do some weight lifting. My coach at CrossFit London, Dave Henry, said something that really resonated with me: You can’t define athleticism or strength in just one way. Back squatting a lot of weight or running a marathon are just one of many ways to define athleticism. There’s always something (in the words of Precision Nutrition) you can do reap the many benefits of regular exercise and build up your athletic capacity. When setbacks come along, many people get hung up on not being able to complete their regular or ‘ideal’ training regimen and postpone exercise or even give up altogether. This isn’t the answer. Life is messy, imperfect, and will always throw you for a loop when you least expect it. Just focus on doing the best you can, where you are at, with what you have (one of our favourite mottos here at NutritionRx and CrossFit London).

The Example

To illustrate my point I want to tell you a story (it’s a little oversimplified but overall it paints a good picture). Let’s imagine there are twins, Lester and Lucy. Lester has an ‘all-or-nothing’ mentality and decides that when he is busy or experiences a setback, he is going to take time off until he can get back to his regular routine. Lucy has an ‘always something’ mentality and even though her exercise routine isn’t perfect, she still decides to do what she can.

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Lester and Lucy both join a running group at the same time and train together every weekday morning. They quickly start improving their endurance capacity.

Setback #1: Both twins get a new job around the same time. The new jobs require a very early start time and they cannot make it to the running group in the mornings anymore. Lester gives up running and decides to start up again later. Lucy finds the time to run around her neighborhood 3x/week and keeps training.

A few months later, Lester finds an earlier running group that the twins can get to before work and they both start training 5x/week again.

Setback #2: In the winter months, Lester and Lucy both fall on a patch of ice and injure themselves. They can no longer run with the injury, so Lester decides to stop exercising until he is ready to run again. Lucy asks her doctor about other exercises that she can do at the gym while she is waiting for her injury to heal. She still goes to the gym before work on weekdays and works around her injury.

…and so on and so forth. See the pattern here?

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If you take a look at this rough chart (okay, so I’m not an artist!), you can see the difference between Lester and Lucy. Even with the setbacks, Lucy (green line) has still managed to improve her health and athletic ability over the course of time. Although Lester (red line) has had good intentions about regularly exercising, he let his all-or-nothing mentality get in the way of improving his health and athletic performance over the long-term.

Here’s the takeaway point: When life deals you a crappy hand, don’t give up. Persevere, get scrappy, and adapt to whatever it throws your way. Your health and wellbeing are SO worth it. Although it may not be perfect or ideal, you’re still making progress to better yourself.

So, you’ll find me at the gym 4-5x/week working on what I CAN do. Since getting back into regular modified activity after my hospitalization I’ve been able to increase my pull-up and pushup strength, and I’m making great strides at improving my row times and core strength. No, I’m not in classes grinding through some really intense workouts with my friends and I’m limited in the movements that I can perform, but I’m still prioritizing my health and making progress. And that’s something worth smiling about.