Guest Post by Tracey from I’m Not Superhuman

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not a fitness junkie or a superstar runner. I have 80-year-old knees (or so says my doctor) and I’m about as nimble as a sumo wrestler. I downed an entire chocolate bar today—and not dark chocolate or the kind that helps little rain forest animals.

So I’m not the most perfect healthy living example out there. For the past seven years, I’ve been dealing with knee pain that’s made running impossible, walking painful, and shopping nonexistent. (And, no, clicking around Amazon.com doesn’t count.)

Up until a year ago, I knew my place. A friend wanted to meet up? Not if it involved walking a few blocks to the restaurant. I needed a new pair of shoes? No way am I brutalizing my knees at the store. Yup, I pretty much knew that I was a good-for-nothin’ gimp.

And then something happened.

After a train-so-hard-your-muscles-burn physical therapy session, I went to the grocery store. (Don’t roll your eyes—that’s a big deal for these achy breaky knees.) Not only did I go in, but I shopped every aisle. And my knees didn’t crunch themselves into red, hot discs of pain. I realized that maybe I wasn’t giving myself enough credit. Maybe I’m stronger than I think. Maybe my injuries are healing after all.

Fact is, we don’t give our bodies due praise. I say mine’s too broken. Someone else says theirs is too big. Another person says theirs is too weak. And so on. I’ve learned that my body is in pain, but it can do more than sit around on the couch all day. (Not that I don’t do that every once in a while. Ahem, today.)

Our bodies do some pretty amazing things, and we need to recognize that. Here are three ways to notice your body’s potential:

1. Push Yourself.
You don’t know what your body can do until you try, right? Maybe some athletes spring out of the womb with a deep understanding of their talents, but most people find out just how far they can run, swim, hike, or pedal by doing it. I might not be pushing myself to learn whether I’ll one day scale Mt. Everest (baby steps, folks) but I can try to learn just how far I can walk without my knees flaring up. And if that means I have to canvas the entire mall doing it, then so be it. There are no limits to my rehab dedication.

2. Ask Friends.
Some time in January my mother told me that she saw a ton of improvement in my knees over the past year. I had been visiting my parents for the holidays and both noticed how much longer I could stand, how much further I could walk, and how much less inflamed my knees got. We’re the best at noticing our flaws, so why wouldn’t we assume our weight isn’t budging or our muscles aren’t getting more toned? But sometimes we lie. For real, honest-to-goodness answers, ask someone you trust. (And, no, no one else thinks your nose is big.)

3. Trust Strangers.
I’ll never forget the woman with auburn hair and black warm-up pants who passed me in the gym and said, “That looks hard! You go girl.” That’s right, another human who wasn’t injured thought an exercise I was doing was hard. Chances are, there are strangers out there who think you run far (I do!) even if you haven’t hit your goal. There are people who think you’re skinny even if you pledge to lose another five pounds. And there are strangers who think your dinner last night was healthy—even if you splurged.

Of course, the hard part is actually giving yourself praise. So, I’ll go first: These two crotchety knees may cause me a lot of grief, but they got me through the grocery store. And they’re awesome for that.

Your turn.

photo cred: dideo