As a person whose active and finds joy in physical exertion, it’s easy to forget many people don’t.  Some will even physically shudder when you tell them they have to exercise. Which may institute some form of exercise on its own. Yet, there’s no rule that says we must exercise every day, eat kale and do yoga to stay physically healthy.   For some, it’s a good thing.  Because I find yoga boring and think kale tastes like bitter green cardboard. However, to maintain health, we must exert ourself.

However, nothing in life is more difficult than overcoming health issues, especially when we’re in pain .  But without effort, there is no deliverance. So, let’s focus on how to overcome health issues, and work on discovering the true “joy in effort”.

Finding Joy in Effort

After many injuries, back surgeries and subsequent nerve damage, it was hard even getting out of bed. There were times when even rolling over was a great accomplishment. But even in excruciating pain, I still dreamed of the active lifestyle of my past.   So, I sought out surgeons, neurologists, spinal cord experts and rehabilitation cliques in France, Germany, California, Hawaii, Singapore and Korea. Some of my efforts brought results, some brought only more pain.

Even through all the changes,  strong medications, repetitive monotonous exercise, tortuous electrical devices, travel and pain, I learned how to enjoy the process of my actions. You see, finding joy is not about determination. It’s about disposition. It’s learning to find joy in every process of life, even if it involves some pain and misery.

Things that worked for me:

• Electro-theorapy (Stimulating nerves to encourage muscle movement)
• Massage (Deep tissue worked best for me)
• Chiropractic adjustments (Upper body adjustment helped most because tension from my back, leg and knee injuries caused everything to tense up).
• Rehabilitation exercises (This is vital the first year or two after any significant injury)
• Acupuncture (Helped more than I thought. Heres a link to one of the korean acupuncture treatments)
• Yoga/stretching techniques (Stretching helps relieve muscle tension and strengthens our core)
• Counseling sessions (Sometimes you need some mental help when you’re in physical pain)
• Aquatics (Water exercise is the best and cheapest low-impact work out you can find)
• Structured exercise programs (I found walking works best)

Basically, our attitude determines what we find joyful and what we find dreadful. Even in the harshest of conditions we can find joy in the effort we make.

Finding Joy in Diligence

Talk to anyone who excels in any activity, and you’ll find someone who discovered the joy in diligence. Being diligent is, of course, the only way to overcome health issues.  There is no one pill fits all; we must be diligent in all areas related to our health.

To expound on this, I’d like to tell a little more of my story.  After one of my larger accidents and following  back surgery, I developed a nerve damage disability known as drop foot.  You see, our nerves are responsible for sending electrical signals to our muscles, which makes them move. If the nerve dies, the message  no longer gets to the muscles.  Then, because the muscle stops moving, they deteriorate. This means I’m no longer able to lift my foot up and down and have no stability on my outer ankle.

It took a few years to learn to walk and function somewhat normally. I still have a tendency to trip, even over my big toe. Because it hangs down the farthest.  The nerve damage also makes my foot feel like it’s always asleep.   After a long day, the damaged nerves feel like someone is stabbing my foot over and over.  But the hardest issue is the constant pain that runs from my lower back, down my leg and to my foot. This pain is the hardest to keep at bay. I’ve tried multiple pain killers, muscle relaxants and anti-inflamatories, but they provided little relief.  The only relief has come through discipline and diligence.

The discipline starts in our minds. For example, If I start thinking about the pain, I pay attention to it. Then  I start to dwell on it. Over time, it’s all I can think about. Then comes the anger, frustration and the tensing of my body. Then the pain only gets worse. So I learned to discipline myself to ignore it, and focus on my life goals and all the good things around me.

The diligence comes in by regularly doing exercise and eating right. Even if we feel like it or not. When we start to listen to our emotions, physical pain and psychological discomfort it saps our strength and inhibit us from staying diligent.  So, why don’t we stop giving a half-hearted, weak, pathetic effort, and find the diligence to get up and do  whatever it takes to overcome the issues we struggle with. By doing this, we might find the joy in diligence that can help overcome even the most difficult of health issues.

Joy in diligence is the stimulation and satisfaction we find when we exert yourselves beyond what we think we are capable of.

Finding Joy in Strength of Spirit

The human body is an incredible machine, and will most often submit to the determination of our spirit to overcome any difficulty.  So if you’ve never done something beyond yourself, there’s no time like the present.

Remember, the human spirit is what sets us apart from other living things.  This is why we have churches, temples, synagogues and mosques, and our pets don’t.   We have a spiritual side – a side that longs to know the unknown – a part that reaches beyond the physical world to see us through even the toughest of times.

It’s in our spirits, where Joy truly resides.  That unshakable inner peace thats seen many a suffering soul through the trials and tribulations of countless generations.

This is why finding joy, in our strength of spirit, is so important.

One way is to work on our spiritual self, even as we work on our physical self. To do so, we could  find a good church, talk to our religious friends, read a bible, listen to spiritual songs, find a place to pray, meditate or listen to spiritual teachers. It’s amazing how much joy one could find if we just stop neglecting our spiritual sides. It’s the one area that’s helped so many others. Even through the worst of health issues.

Finding Joy in Strength – Conclusion

Most often I believe that making any effort is better than making no effort at all.  Even when our bodies finally succumb to the ravages of time, we can be confident that the greatest joy is found when we make an effort to try.

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