A lot of you know that I’ve been working at becoming stronger, going to the gym, parking far away from the mall entrance, using my wheelchair treadmill at home. I think a lot of people who do this come up with their own slogans, Nike did extremely well with ‘Just Do It,’ but that didn’t really work for me, so I didn’t borrow, I developed my own, ‘Choose Movement.’ This was powerful for me when thinking about my life – I’m naturally a sedentary person, I typically choose to be passive, not active. Going to the store, sit in the car while Joe runs in, that was my choice. But I ‘Choose Movement’ when it’s offered to me. This really works for me.
But.
I ran into someone I hadn’t seen for a while and we stopped an chatted. She asked me if I had noticed that she no longer commented on my blog. I said that I had and that there is an ebb and flow to people commenting on it so I didn’t think about it very much. She said that something in my writing style had changed and she didn’t feel as comfortable as a reader as she had in the past.
I asked her to tell me what she had noticed.
She asked me if I really wanted to know.
I said ‘Yes, of course.’
Then she gave me her feedback. It was quite critical, and I have to be honest, it stung. I am old enough to know that if feedback stings it’s because you recognize the truth in it. I listened, asked questions to clarify and make sure I understood, and when she finished, I thanked her for her feedback. Then, as we parted, it started.
“What does she know?”
“No one else feels that way.”
“Not sure why she felt a need to attack.”
This is what I do with critical feedback, at first. I have to get the hurt feelings out of the way. No one likes to be on the receiving end of helpful feedback. I did this for a couple of days.
Then, this morning, I lay in bed thinking about it. Her feedback suggested I needed to make a change in how I approached writing this blog. I had to think a little more carefully as to who my readership is and who I might be leaving out or leaving behind or criticizing by content. I thought about it and the phrase, ‘Choose Movement,’ came into my head. It’s not just for getting my body moving, it’s also about getting my mind moving, not becoming comfortable sitting in one place, getting my mind out of it’s recliner chair and moving about and making change. I am, at 66, too young to get stagnant and stale. So I’ve dusted off my thinking cap and put it back on. To those who have felt distanced by the content of this blog, I apologize.
Choose Movement.
In every way that can be understood.
Choose Movement.
