I'd Be Wolf Food

Apparently, I’d Be Wolf Food

I’ve had orthopedic issues for about twelve years now.

It started slowly…

and eventually led to joint replacements and everything that comes with them.

At one point, before my hip replacement, a nurse said something to me that has stuck with me ever since:

“If this were a different century… you’d be wolf food.”

And honestly?

She wasn’t wrong.

So yes, I’m grateful I live in a time when things can be repaired, replaced, and managed.

I’m grateful for modern medicine.

That doesn’t mean I have to be grateful for needing it.

There’s a difference.

And over the years, I’ve learned something else:

Progress doesn’t always look the way we think it should.

It isn’t always fast.

It certainly isn’t consistent.

And one of the worst ways to measure it is by constantly comparing yourself to who you used to be.

I used to be able to do this.

I should be farther along by now.

Why can’t I do what everyone else seems to be doing?

None of that changes where you are today.

So this November, my focus is pretty simple.

I’m not trying to compete with my past.

I’m not measuring myself against anyone else.

I’m continuing my rehabilitation to the best of my own ability.

Some days that may mean doing a little more.

Some days it may mean doing less.

But either way, I’m still moving.

Because sometimes the win isn’t getting back to where you were.

Sometimes the win is figuring out what you can do from where you are…

and building from there.

Besides, according to that nurse, a few centuries ago I wouldn’t have had to worry about rehabilitation at all.

The wolves would have handled it.