My husband just had knee replacement surgery on January 16. During the most normal of times, the Ortho docs will warn you that this is one of the toughest surgeries to recover from, more than his 5 meniscus surgeries, the hip replacement he didn’t need (another story for another day), the two rotator cuff surgeries he had, and on and on. Those words of warning are serious, yet there is absolutely no way the reality of the situation can be felt until one is right smack in the middle of all of it.

I said the most normal of times because he had complications…several of them…that resulted in ER visits and a hospital stay. The reason this is significant is that these complications caused him to lose about 10 days of professional physical therapy.

If you’ve been through this surgery, or you know someone else who has, you know that those early days are beyond critical in terms of PT because the body wants to form scar tissue around it to do what it does best, which is to protect itself.

Here’s where you come in.

Fight or Flight?

My close friend, Roy Sexton, just posted on social media that he and the LMA International Board of Directors just finished a 2-day board meeting. Something he said caused me to think of you, and how you and my husband’s knee recovery are very similar.

I know, I know. I’m not a huge fan of using my family’s personal situation to make a point in my business, but Roy’s post made it so obvious to me.

Roy said:

“In short, we all live to a great extent in the fight or flight side of our brains, and when we are in that survival mode, there is absolutely no way to grow, be strategic, be truly inclusive, or make a long-term difference in this world.”

The concept of flight or fight is not new, but it is timely and important.

My husband’s job, along with the amazing assistance of a professional Physical Therapist, assisted by my not-so-amazing assistance with the same exercises 2 to 3 times a day, is to move past the scar tissue that has now formed around his knee because it tried to protect that brand new, shiny, expensive device the doctor installed.

The challenge now is that scar tissue grew mostly uninterrupted for 10(ish) days while he was battling other hospital-born (we think) issues. Yes, when we weren’t in the hospital, I forced him to do his home exercises with me, but nowhere near what would have been done had he felt better.

Do You Have Those Same Barriers To Progress? 

When you and I think we can’t do something, or won’t do something that we know will help grow our practices, it might be because we have these thoughts:

• I don’t know how to do it.
• I don’t want to do it.
•  I don’t have time to do it.
• I don’t want to look silly.
• I don’t want to make mistakes.
• I don’t know what to say.
• I don’t know what to post.
• I don’t like the way I sound.
• I don’t like the way I look on camera.
• Someone else has already done this.
• Someone else has already broken the news.
• Someone else is smarter than I am.
• Someone else is younger than I am.
• Someone else is more experienced than I am.
• ….and so many more.

Our Own Version of Scar Tissue Develops

When we allow ourselves to think those thoughts, our own version of scar tissue develops in our brains.

Over time, we convince ourselves these things are true, so we put off what we know we should do. We put off doing the amazing things that will help set us apart and make us memorable, which are those things that draw others to us when they need the kind of help you and I provide.

As time goes by, those thoughts become scar tissue that we then have to fight very, very hard to move past because we have allowed them to become what we think to be true. The longer we wait, the more challenging it is going to be. It might even hurt to make progress because that thought, or those thoughts, are in the way and they don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. We’ve allowed them to take up residence in our brains.

Fight or Flight?

We take the path of least resistance, or at least we think it is the path of least resistance because it feels easy to let another minute, hour, day, month, or year go by without doing what we need or want to do to differentiate ourselves.

We take flight in order to avoid the emotions that go along with the thoughts (excuses) I shared above.

It’s Time To Fight

Instead of taking the deceptive path of least resistance and fleeing from the amazing work that I know you can do, I invite you to allow yourself to fight through those barriers, that scar tissue, and to choose to do the things you need to do to grow your practice. There are amazing people around you, and yes, I am one of them, that are here to help you if you don’t know where to start. (That sounded kind of braggy, didn’t it?)

The important thing is to start. Whatever you have to do to make it happen, start.

Is it going to be uncomfortable? Maybe.

Will that discomfort go away? Absolutely.

As I tell my husband when I am pulling his leg back to a position that hurts like heck, this hurts but it is also going to help you get better.

Moving through those thoughts and emotions described above will feel very good down the road. I know it will.

It’s time.

Fight.