Don’t you hate injuries?
Particularly when you’ve got a big race coming up? You’ve been training hard, everything is coming together, you’re eying off a PB and then WHAM, it’s gone.
Completely unpredictable, and the recovery time is not certain either.
This happened to me yesterday.
I was playing a muck around game at my daughter’s soccer training when I felt a sharp pull in my leg. I knew I’d done something that wasn’t good, but tried to shrug it off. When I couldn’t lift my leg to get into the car I realised it was something I couldn’t ignore.
Turns out I’ve strained my right hip flexor. Nothing too serious, but probably 1-2 weeks to recover. Which means I’ll miss the ANSW 10km race on the weekend, and should just be recovered for the SMH Half Marathon in a few weeks – although I’m unlikely to be in the shape I was expecting.
Someone commented to me that they’ve knocked back many offers to play team sports in the past to eliminate that risk of injury.
I thought about that for a minute, initially thinking that was a good idea.
But then I thought some more.
The original reason I started running 8 years ago was to be able to play with my girls and to be able to keep up with them. My oldest daughter turns 10 next week so realistically there are only a few more years before she will have grown up and left home, and I won’t have those opportunities. As important as my running is to me, do I really want to give up those moments that I share with her for the chance at another PB, or do I want to try and do everything and accept the risk that goes with that?
Personally, I’m greedy and I want to do everything, and if that means I suffer the consequences sometimes then so be it. I’m sure she won’t remember my 10km PB, but I know she’ll remember if I tell her I don’t want to play with her because I might get hurt.
The same principles apply with your finances.
I regularly talk to people who’ve tried to get financial advice from someone who just doesn’t understand their priorities. One of them, Emily, was told point blank that she and her husband would be better off if they stopped spending money on triathlons and instead paid the mortgage off faster and put more into super.
It would be funny if it wasn’t a serious recommendation.
In terms of their perspectives on life, Emily was from Mars and the advisor was from Venus. They were never going to be able to relate to each other, and the advice was never going to make sense to her.
For Emily too, life is about much more than just the numbers.
She and her family want it all too.
Don’t Die Wondering.
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