This is the forty-second of a weekly blog series that will focus on leadership in the outdoors and how to get the most from the least. Even though the title is called, “Thoughts of a Modern-Day Mountain Man”, it will hopefully cover topics that are useful to everyone.
Chapter 42: Your Body is a Machine.
"The trail compels you to know yourself
and to be yourself, and puts you in
harmony with the universe. It makes you
glad to be living. It gives health, hope,
and courage, and it extends that touch of
nature which tends to make you kind."
-Enos A. Mills
I have always been fascinated and intrigued by machines of all shapes and sizes. My curiosity has led me to completely disassemble more than one machine just to see what made it work. The ingenuity and creativity that mankind has shown throughout history through our inventions and machinery is truly astonishing. We have made machines to accomplish just about every task under the sun.
Without a doubt the most intricate and well designed machine in God’s creation is the human body. It has all the components and hallmarks of any well-functioning and well designed machine. The human body contains electrical systems, hydraulic systems, mechanical and structural systems, but to a degree that no human could ever hope to replicate in such intricate detail.
Like all machines sometimes our body breaks and needs service and repair. While it is very important to take time to relax, enjoy ourselves and have fun, sometimes this alone will not fix the problem at-hand with our broken bodies. Without a doubt resting on occasion may prevent injuries, especially repetitive use injuries, but there are times no matter how well you have cared for yourself, the body machine will break from time-to-time.
This breakage could be a result of a traumatic fall or accident, or it could be the end result of many years of abuse to your machine. Even the most well thought out and engineered car engine has a serviceable lifespan, and failure at some point is guaranteed. Our bodies are really no different, since sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, our bodies have an expiration date. Taking care of our body is way more important than keeping the oil changed at regular intervals in a car engine, but for some strange reason I have known many people throughout the years, myself included, that take amazing care of their man-made machines while completely neglecting their body machine. This creates many problems, similar to forgetting to change the oil in your engine, if regular maintenance and repair isn't completed on your body problems down the road will be magnified.
I have had many injuries and illnesses throughout the years that I did not care of properly at the time, and I am sure regretting it now. I was a person that never wanted to miss one day of work, practice or a game, and I would either hide my injury or try my best to play through it. At that time it seemed like the thing to do, and there is definitely something to be said for being the consummate co-worker or teammate who will go to the ends of the earth to help, but this did lead to times where I pushed too far. In all reality I hindered the very cause I was trying to help when I couldn't give my absolute best. Even tough guys and modern-day mountain men get hurt and sick. It is going to happen. It is a result of the sin in the world. Our bodies are machines, albeit the most complex machines ever conceived. Breakdown is inevitable.
If you do your job as an outdoor professional, leader or guide thoroughly and properly for many years, and season-after-season, you will undoubtedly end your career with many scars and injuries to show for your efforts. We should strive to use our body to the fullest extent and power possible, that is after all how we learn our limits and grow stronger, but we must also do this as a measured approach. Working as an outdoor leader or guide is a marathon, not a sprint and we are no good to anyone if we can’t finish the race. We are always going to be of the greatest benefit to our company and fellow mountain men if we can go the full distance. Breaking down along the way is part of that journey and is one of the reasons why we must establish a great support system that can step-in when we falter. This will be one of the true measures of you as an outdoor leader, when someone you have trained and entrusted with the responsibility to step-in and step-up for you or another person in the company during a time of need and the mission is still accomplished without missing a beat.
My poor sinful body is broken and in need of repairs. Some physical, some mental, and a great deal of spiritual. Both my shoulders are in need of surgery, my right hip is shot, my knees and ankles struggle to hold up my body on most days, many fingers are as crooked as the reasoning of an atheist, few days pass without some type of back pain, but I wouldn’t trade it for any price. True, there were times I should have taken a day or a play off, had a broken bone properly set, or rehabbed an injury with a professional. In other words, if I would have treated my body like the fine piece of machinery it was designed to be, maybe the mileage wouldn't show so much. In retrospect it wouldn't have made any of my decisions or choices any different. I love the games I played, the practices I attended and the career in the outdoors I’ve had in God’s wondrous creation. My machine perseveres, as it has no other choice, but in the end it will expire anyways like all machines. I am proud of my brokenness, the bumps and scars tell a story. I believe my body was used to its highest capacities in service of Christ and His Kingdom. When the day comes that my body goes to the boneyard and my spirit goes home, only then will I put my machine to rest.
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