Life After Service Addendum

A short while ago, I wrote a blog titled “Life After Service”. In that post, I mentioned making sure we all have sustainable and diversified healthy pursuits and focused some on some warrior servants who pursue photography as a healthy pursuit. Over the last few years I too have revisited this hobby. I suppose that I come by it somewhat naturally. I literally grew up in my professional photographer father’s darkroom watching him work and with his work all around us. In the last few years of my career, I picked up the hobby, and annoyed most everyone around me at work by taking thousands of pictures. In the mean time, I also took up woodworking, triathlon, and camping. I pursued all with the passion, intensity and the fervor I may have once been known for. Of those pastimes, if I had to pick just one that nourished and sustained me the most, it was and is triathlon.

I came to understand that triathlon is a generic term that describes the multi-sport endeavor that consists of swimming, cycling, and running. The distances can range from short (sprint distance) to simply all day (140.6 miles and longer). I love the challenge of training, the camaraderie, the thrill of the race, goal setting, and the profound sense of accomplishment. The sport has drawn me closer to my wife (she is quite talented-I am not) gotten me out exercising in a healthy manner and given me mountains to climb of whatever height I thought I could manage. I have competed all over the south eastern United States in races that ranged from sprint to Olympic and finally a couple 70.3 mile races for years. Now, what seemed sustainable is in question.

Loss-noun. The fact or process of losing something or someone.

I have come to realize that loss can be experienced in many different ways. Some things are more obvious such as the frustration and anxiety I have experienced from the loss of my keys, the crushing and weighty grief from losing a friend and the unique sadness that dog lovers feel at the passing of a canine family member. But alas, now I am beginning to experience another kind of loss. Over the last three to four years, I have been troubled by a relatively minor, yet persistent orthopedic injury that has slowly, insidiously, increased in intensity preventing me from training to the level I like to train. Finally, during a recent doctor’s visit, the doctor kindly and quietly suggested that “Father Time” may have overtaken me in this regard and triathlon in the manner in which I like to compete, may therefore be a thing of the past.

Before I go any further, lest someone misunderstand, I do not want sympathy or pats on the back. What I do want, is to take this time to point out the value of having a variety of sustainable pursuits, contingency plans and contingency plans for our contingency plans (weren’t we all trained that way anyhow?). Once I realized that I was experiencing a real sense of loss and was depressed at the prospect of “Father Time” kicking my pastime to the curb, I felt led to share so others might evaluate their own sustainable healthy pursuits. I recognize that I have been blessed to have been able to train, compete and participate in this sport (and I encourage others to do so) and I recognize that my physical limitations are quite minor in comparison to others.

So, why prattle on about it then? The simple answer is that having these other hobbies/pastimes/pursuits has helped me through what has been a surprisingly tough time. Knowing this in an academic way and experiencing it first hand are wholly different experiences. I’m living it now and grateful that I have other interests to pursue. Please find sustainable and healthy pastimes that engage you, get you out of your comfort zone, away from the office and go after them. Try new stuff. Expect that some of your “go to” pastimes will not last, and expect that you will probably not be very happy about it.

As a group, active duty military, veterans, first responders and PSCOs plan contingencies in their sleep. Contingencies for life altering, vast and complex situations and daily simple situations. So why is it that we (I) have a tough time seeing the need to plan in the same way for ourselves. The answer from me is that I don’t know. But, now more than ever, I recognize that being active, engaged, learning new things, goal setting and achieving goals is absolutely essential to healthy living. Therefore, being prepared when your version of triathlon grinds to a halt for some reason is equally essential. Dealing with your sense of loss when the time comes will be so much easier if you have multiple pursuits to fall back on. Take it from the guy who just learned (again) the difference between academic understanding and real life experience.