What up champions!?
I have had many people ask me if my total hip replacement feels good all the time? My answer to that question is a prompt one. “It better today than it was yesterday, and it gets better EVEryday of my life!” (MINDSET!) I’m so damn annoyed by doctors. Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely grateful for doctors, their work ethic, and for the technology that allowed me the great fortune of getting a hip replacement in order to improve my quality of life and gave me a chance to play baseball again. But come on docs…why do you tell us that our hip replacements will only last for 15-20 years, max? What the fuck is that all about, dude?!
You see, I’m not really the type of person that listens to that kind of limiting bull honky. Thats all it is. You also can’t tell me how long my life will be, I’ll be the decider of that, thank you very much.
So doc, how bout’ you tell me what’s possible! How bout’ you be like Dr. Michael Wilmink and tell me that anything is possible. Sure, you can tell me what the statistics and probabilities are, but why in the hell would I ever allow YOU to lump ME into THOSE statistics?! I don’t know about you who is reading this, but I just ain’t down with that. I’m about being different and writing my own story. Fire in the belly…MINDSET.
Originally, when I was 19 years old and was told by the Washington State University medical that my hip was so jacked up that I needed to eventually get it replaced, I was put on my heels quite a bit. I didn’t know what to do with this completely unexpected curveball of information. “You shouldn’t play baseball anymore, Isaac. Now, I know you’ve worked your ass off to get this full ride scholarship and finally achieved this life long goal of yours, but hey bud, you need to give it up now.” Isaac replies (in his head), “Ummm…I appreciate your concern but you can politely go F yourself doc. I’ve made it was too far to be told this crap.”
Thankfully, I had Dr. Wilmink see it in my eyes that I was gonna make a come back to baseball whether he told me I should or not. He did suggest that it might be in my best interest to consider stopping playing, but they way in which he worded it was encouraging rather than a definitive “NO!”
The statistics…
Guys, the stats are based on Americans. With all due respect, so many Americans are obese. So many of the people that need hip replacements have to get them because they are out of balance with their health and likely out of balance with their life. It’s not completely our fault, my fellow Americans…we’re taught to accept the status quo and we’re taught to accept what they tell us. We’re taught that unhealthy garbage bullshit food is healthy because it is “fat free” or whatever other bs they market it with. WE just need to EDUCATE ourselves and look BEYOND what they tell US.
So when they told me my hip would only last 10-15 years before I would need a revisional surgery, I immediately took that as a challenge. Thank God for this!! That statement has literally MADE me the champion that I am to this very day.
Do I really feel good EVErday though?!
Hell yes I do. Like I said, I feel better EVEryday. MINDSET. This is something that has already been decided. This doesn’t mean that I’m an idiot and I do whatever I want at anytime without regard to the presence of having a total hip replacement. It simply means that I’ve chosen this MINDSET regardless of how my hip feels and I’ve chosen to take the necessary action day after day to DO THE WORK in order to maintain this. So I say to you doctors, can you please re-phrase the way you talk to us as potential candidates for a hip replacement? Can you please default to saying things like “Anything is possible, but here are the statistics…” and things like “If you want to do those things you are talking about you just need to be careful and work hard. You will need to raise the consciousness in your life in all that you do. And hey, this hip replacement is going to really help re-shape a lot of things in your life, DUDE!”
I was lucky to have a doctor that gave me this encouragement. I was also lucky to have my mom’s full support. I AM LUCKY EVERYDAY OF MY LIFE…MINDSET.
DO THE WORK
If you want to feel good in your life then you need to do the work. You need to work to feel good. If you think feeling good is supposed to be inherent, then you are just being foolish. Life is about EVEryday. It is about making adjustments. It is about creating your MINDSET. It is about lifting people up and it is about lifting yourself up, day after day. It is about improving your life however you can EVEry single day. It is about realizing that your body is finite and infinite at the same time. It is about enjoying the process and being grateful for EVERYTHING that comes, positive and negative. EVERYTHING.
Is my hip going to last until I die??
Duh! Yes it is. And I probably won’t die until I decide I’m done with this life. That might be 150 years old, might be 300 years old, who knows? I’ll be the decider of that. MINDSET. And yo…if by some crazy chance that I need to get my hip redone in a year, 5 years, 20 years, 100 years…then I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. In the meantime, I’ll just keep allowing it and helping it to Get Better EVEryday. And I’ll be laughing the whole way at the doctors who tell me about my limitations. So tell me what I CAN DO and help give me a plan. Tell me that my MINDSET will be the most important aspect of this surgery. Tell me that my thoughts actually redefine the molecular structure of my blood and my body…because that’s the shit I want to hear!!
Final notes and losing your ego
I do not make any of these posts or bold statements rooted in my own ego. I’m not doing this to try to “look cool” or act like doctors are dumb. They are very smart and what they say should not be taken lightly. With that said, the way you hear what they say should not be taken lightly either. I simply want people in the world to focus on what they CAN DO rather than what they CAN’T DO. We must all do this with humility and an EVEryday consciousness that if we don’t put in the work, then we won’t be able to do much.
I most definitely want to continue defying the odds and expanding my limitations. I want to be the most capable person I can possibly be, because I love life and I know how short it is. I love having fun and I want to live as long as I can and make the biggest impact I can. What else really is there other than that? I believe its very important that we realize that we all impact each other so much, and we must add value and contribute to ourselves, our community, and to the champion pot of life. We don’t need an ego to do this, we need to lose our ego to do this. We are all in this together.
I’m so fired up right now!! HAHAHAHA but for real though…
Cultivate your MINDSET!
Isaac
