TREADMILL: PART 2

I love to dance. My wife and I can go for 2-3, maybe even 4 hours at a wedding reception. We kick up our heels, spin, laugh, sweat...make fools out of ourselves. It's a lot of fun. We usually come home from these sessions exhausted and happy.

I posted in an earlier blog ( TREADMILL ) about my struggle on the treadmill. Today I tried again. I started early in the morning before I had time to work up too much anxiety about it. I got on and started the music. Breathe, Todd. Breathe. I prayed for God to move the past out of my way with a bulldozer so that I could just enjoy myself, or at the very least, not feel shame from the exercise. As I walked, I could feel my blood pressure rise. I could feel my heart beating faster. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my body. I kept on praying, "C'mon God...we can do this. This doesn't have to be terrible. There must be sometime when I get all worked up that doesn't feel awful to me. Help me to think of this like...like when I'm dancing with Martha!"

I smiled. I saw us whooping it up in our nice clothes. We were hot, and sweaty, and laughing and singing and swaying and...it was ok. And when a slow song came on I held Martha close and we joked about sticking together (ewwww). And I kept on walking. Song after song.  I even sang a little. It felt pretty good.

Somehow in my talking with God a shift happened. My anxiety diminished. A boulder moved. I was rocked and rolled. Perhaps that's how the boulder got moved away on Easter morning. Maybe Jesus said, "C'mon God...we can do this. This doesn't have to be terrible."

I wonder what kinds of shifts happen in your life when you talk with God? I wonder how the Spirit uses those conversations to leverage change that brings about wholeness?

It's been 3 hours since I was back on the treadmill. Still feeling pretty good. No shame. Kind of feels like Easter morning.
--todd

SMIRKERS

Have you ever met someone who clearly didn't care for you? They may not know you. They may never have had a face to face conversation with you, but when they do, it's like a stink bomb has been set off during worship. Their smile is strained. It pulls at the sides of their mouth and creates on their face: a smirk.

smirk  (smûrk)

intr.v. smirked, smirk·ing, smirks

To smile in an affected, often offensively self-satisfied manner.

n.

An affected, often offensively self-satisfied smile.

 The "smirker" looks at you like they can't believe you're wasting their air. They may politely answer your questions and respond to your statements...but there won't be any depth happening. Your conversation with them will be forced to dwell near the surface as if it is gasping for air. Any attempt to move closer will result in a polite diversionary tactic and a "goodbye."

I imagine that Jesus experienced that awkward interaction on a daily basis. Perhaps the folks who disliked him didn't even try to hide their discomfort. The Bible describes the outright, hostile mocking, of this guy who was just trying to offer compassion, hope, and healing to everyone he met.

I have a few of those smirkers in my life. When they see me coming they either hide, avoid making eye contact with me, ignore me if there is someone else with me, or smirk. That's what they do when I catch them off guard. They curl up their lips like the Grinch overlooking Who-ville with a dastardly idea. It drives me nuts. It sometimes leaves me feeling sad...or hurt.

Jesus smiled back at the smirkers. He looked past their discomforted dead eyes and embraced them with humor, or a challenge, or a direct question regarding their behavior. He did not let the "smirk" keep him from his mission. He did not let the "smirk" deny him the opportunity to share some Good News with the folks who, for whatever reason, did not feel comfortable in his presence. He let that be their issue, and he held steady with his issues.

I'm going to try and deal with the "smirkers" in my life more like Jesus did. I'm going to stop avoiding them for the sake of my own comfort, and just go up to them (even if it means hopping over a few chairs to catch them), and say, "hello." I'm going to engage them on my terms and say what I need to say. Who knows, maybe I'll catch them on a good day. Maybe the Spirit will be moving between us and they'll actually listen to something I have to say. Maybe I'll be able to figure out where their discomfort comes from. Maybe we'll get to dive a little deeper for my persistence.

Maybe they'll just get better at hiding from me when they see me coming.

--todd

TREADMILL

I"m a survivor of abuse. Physical and emotional abuse as a child. Lots of it. It has left me with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I hate it. Recently I restarted therapy. The guy I'm seeing was on my previous therapist's "emergency" list...and since my previous therapist is dead, I guess calling this new person made sense.


My issue at the moment is paralysis. I am stuck. Can't move. Literally. Can't. Move. When I think about exercising or doing anything healthy for myself I seize up. I have a shortness of breath. My legs don't want to move. The muscles in my arms tighten up. It's not a good feeling. It reminds me of how I felt when I was being abused...


My new therapist and I talked about that yesterday. He suggested that I try to feel the tensing of the muscles, and push aside the panic piece of the equation, because I do panic when I feel this way. We did a short exercise and I had some success, but I knew I had to practice to get better at it.


Today I spent 3 hours in paralysis. I even created this blog as a way to avoid doing  a little exercise. By “a little” I mean, “20 minutes on a slow treadmill.” I think that is a little.


After eating lunch I was able to yell at myself loudly enough that I got on the stupid treadmill.


My muscles were tense. My head began to swim as I moved my feet on the belt. Breathe. Breathe. This is not that trauma. This elevated heartbeat is not “that” elevated heartbeat. This heavy breathing is not “that” heavy breathing. I put on some Mavis Staples walking music, and pressed “go.”

It was not too bad. I felt anxious a few times, and when I did feel the anxiety rising, I would pray, “God, this is not that time, help me to be here now. Help me to feel this as a good thing. Help me to know this is a good thing.” And I kept walking. And walking. And walking. When I finally stopped, I noted that I had been at it for 40  minutes. My breathing came back to normal. I had survived.






It was a couple hours later that the anxiety began to rise up again. I felt...ashamed. My body was translating the healthy activity as "trauma". I felt...angry that I felt ashamed. I felt frustrated that even though I was able to walk, the trauma was still able to change that good thing into something really horrible. My limbs started tightening up. My head started to swirl. “God, help me to remember the good that walk did for me. Help me to remember how I did not feel so terrible when I was on the treadmill and how I lost track of time because it was OK to be walking for my health.”


I am trying to be patient. I am terrible at being patient. I trust that God who saved me, delivered me, from my tormentors, will lead me through this wilderness. Like my spiritual forebears, I’m pretty sure that I will murmur until I reach the promised land As a wise doctor friend of mine once prescribed: one step today...maybe two steps tomorrow. I will try.
--todd