Even Superman got a little help once in awhile
For those of you that haven’t heard, I injured myself recently. In early January, I completely ruptured my Achilles tendon on my right foot. I was working out with my kickboxing trainer, took a step back and then pushed off to come forward and ‘POP.’ People 50 feet away heard the noise. My trainer thought I kicked the floor. I crumpled into the fetal position. I was pretty sure I knew what happened, but held out hope that it was going to be ok. That hope was quickly quashed and I had surgery within just a few days.
For those of you who truly know me, this will be the part that really gets the ooooooooohhh. I had to remain in bed for nearly two weeks! I couldn’t put any pressure on my foot. I had crutches and a knee scooter. (Are you picturing a circus bear on a scooter about now?) The word that best describes how I was feeling is: trapped.
Again, anyone who has been around me much will tell you that I am very independent. I was brought up to be chivalrous. I like to be the one everyone relies on, not the one needing the help. Let’s just say this experience brought out the best and worst in me all at once.
Right after surgery, still heavily medicated, I remember waking up in the recovery room and the nurse asking me to stand up and try to get across the room on crutches. I thought, I can do this. I am a pretty athletic guy and have good balance. No problem. I wobbled to my one good leg, grabbed the crutches, and took off toward the other side of the room. When I tried to turn around, my hips turned but my upper body did not. My weight shifted backward and I barely caught myself much to the horror of my mother and wife. I am pretty sure I said. ‘I got this’ and took off back to the gurney. Another narrow miss and I was back lying down. This was my first lesson of many to come that would challenge my independence.
Once home, I found myself in a constant battle with my family for control of ME. I wanted to do things on my own, and they wanted to keep me from exactly that. Big surprise, I am not a good patient when I can’t move around. (My mother has always said that, as a baby, I was a bit unpleasant until I could walk. My independent streak started early, and I began to walk at nine months old.) When my 10-year-old daughter, Blair, tried to help me navigate some icy stairs, after a quick lesson in physics (I weigh 290 pounds and she is maybe 75 soaking wet), I had to explain to her that if I fell, she wouldn’t be able to go for help if she was trapped under her Daddy.
Finally, to add insult to injury, I couldn’t drive because, as I said earlier, I injured my right foot. The tantrums of the 8-month-old who couldn’t walk resurfaced. For whatever reason, being restricted is one of my worst fears. This made my trip to see several of my clients that much harder. I flew to Houston and had 14 meetings in 3 days in multiple locations. Thankfully, my clients are wonderful people. They chauffeured me around and were so understanding when I needed help. It was a humbling experience in the truest sense of the word.
So people have asked me what I always ask them… What have you learned from all of this? Simple. Over two months into this now and still a long road of recovery ahead of me, I have learned the importance of the team around me. My injury has required me to allow others to do more, and this has been eye-opening.
In the forest, growth cannot happen for some trees if others steal all of the light.
I always thought of myself as the central cog in the machine. My clients might say that I am the flywheel that gets things moving, but I am still just a gear in their operation. By writing about this, I hope, as always, to spare you the pain of learning this the hard way. Allow your team to do more. If you have the right people, you can take your Superman suit off every once in a while and enjoy life. Self-reliance is great, but it limits what you can truly achieve. You have to build your team and let them do their jobs. Yours may be to develop them and help them see what they can accomplish rather than showing them what you can do.
Oh and one last lesson from all of this. Stretch your calves…. Just sayin’.
The results you want are out there. Let me help you find them….
