We’re officially 3.5 weeks out from my knee surgery, and things are going well! I’m still not doing any squats or child’s poses — one of my fave yoga poses I’m working to get back to. But mobility is definitely increasing!
One interesting thing this injury+surgery has done is made me a believer in physical therapy (PT). I guess I’ve been pretty lucky, as I’ve never really had to do this before.
The mantra of PT seems to be “a little bit every day,” which seems absurdly aligned with the approach we adopted in our #lovework tech over the past 5 years.
Apparently, I successfully digested a bunch of our own philosophical kool-aid, because this notion of “small changes applied over time” still feels remarkably resonant. It just feels “right,” like it aligns with the way the universe actually works. (As much as I love using my microwave, it also feels a bit “unnatural,” like things maybe “shouldn’t” happen that fast…?)
Physical therapy, like the pace of many good things in life it seems, is deliberate and methodical, like tending to a seed under the dirt. It takes watering, even when you can’t see a damn thing happening…
Which means PT can also feel frustratingly slow and laborious… if I choose to look at it that way.
I am trying pretty hard to adopt a new way to look at these things.
There’s a reported quote from Ghandi that goes: “There is more to life than increasing its speed.”
This also resonates for me, especially as I get older and friends of mine start using phrases like “The Back 9” and “Downhill.”
Yikes.
Yeah, let’s slow that sh*t down please.
Which makes me think of that song.
And then I think of this song.
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At the very end of 2024, I got an email from a newsletter I subscribe to called Daily Dad that referenced this old Alabama hit, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since. These lyrics — “I’m in a hurry and don’t know why” — really do hit me differently now than when I was a kid, hearing it on the one country radio station I could get in my middle-of-nowhere hometown.
As I was writing this, my mom texted me a spiritual invocation that had this phrase: “Pause throughout the weekend to look at the sky, notice a child, or help someone in need.”
Yes! Exactly! That is who I want to be.
But do I actually pause to do these things?
All this makes me think of my original post from the beginning of the year, where I declared myself a “Time Traveler” with the mantra of “moving slowly, with presence.”
Because if there’s one thing a time traveler does NOT have to do, it’s rush.
I don’t have this all sorted out yet, but I think this “aspirational identity” frame is helping.
Because at least I’m noticing these things.
And I’m still doing my PT.