Rest is the e̶a̶s̶i̶e̶s̶t̶ hardest activity.

I consider myself an active person. I walk, jog or walk/jog and practice yoga daily, resting every so often when my body tells me to. This routine makes me feel good — that whole mind, body, spirit kind of good — and it’s really important to me.

Well right now, my body is telling me to rest. Not my whole body, just my knee. My right knee.

I’m pretty sure this injury happened while running and then I made it worse by doing a toe stand.

DON’T DO A TOE STAND IF YOUR KNEE IS FEELING FUNKY.

Live and learn.

This isn’t a life-altering injury; It doesn’t hurt to walk but it does hurt to do many yoga poses.

I haven’t been to the yoga studio to practice since last Tuesday (toe stand day) and I’ve been going on a few walks but no runs. I’ve continued my at-home yoga practice but it’s been pretty light, avoiding what hurts — which seems like every pose I love.

I’m frustrated.

My body is used to the treat of at least two hot yoga sessions per week, and I can feel the difference without it. My skin isn’t as smooth and soft and my insides feel congested. Without my regular activities, I can feel my body begin to soften like a rotting plum. Gross.

Ever wonder what a rotting plum looks like? (CC image courtesy of lamentables on Flickr)

Options:

Feel sorry for myself and wallow in this rotting plum body.
Close my eyes until it’s better.
Accept where I am and learn from it.

After exploring option 1 for a moment (which was entirely too long), I immediately realized that wasn’t going to work. Option 2 just isn’t realistic. So it looks like I’m left with option 3.

This rotting plum I’m living in can still be sweet, right?

Right. I don’t really believe everything happens for a reason because some things in life are just too senseless to have purpose. However, I do believe there are lessons to be learned from everything and everything has a silver lining. Especially this knee injury.

It’s a friggin’ knee injury. It could be so much worse, Cara.

OK knee, I see your injury and I raise you positivity ...

I will take this opportunity to learn how to modify yoga for knee problems.
I will explore my at-home yoga practice deeper to give my body the movements it needs.
I will spend more time practicing meditation.
I will focus on studying with the time I can’t spend moving.

That was easier than I thought. That’s a happy list! All good things that I'm excited about.

Life is always going to serve us surprises that put kinks in our plans.

The easiest thing to do is feel sorry for ourselves and dive into a container of Ben & Jerry’s or slip into [insert destructive behavior pattern of choice here].

CHOICE. (Did you see that word there?)

We almost always have choices.

I didn’t choose to hurt my knee, but I can choose how I react to it. I dipped my toe in the self-pity pool for a moment before turning to my laptop to write through this. The water is much better here.

Looks like I win, knee. You will not defeat this sweet plum.

Taking it easy is hard