Trail Marker #8: The In Between Is Where the Foundation Sets
Tonight feels quieter than I expected.
In a few days I will be back in the operating room for my second knee replacement surgery. The first one is behind me. The second one is real and close enough to feel. Yet nothing dramatic is happening tonight.
No breakthrough workout.
No scale victory.
No big motivational surge.
Just a sense of being in between.
The scale has been parked at 228 pounds for a couple of weeks. My body feels bloated, a little heavy, a little tired and sluggish. Six months ago, I would have read that as failure. Tonight, I am trying to see what it really is. A body holding stress, healing, and bracing for what is next.
This part of the journey is highlighted by no one.
We talk about goals, total health, getting back on the trail, hiking again, but there is a long stretch between deciding to change your life and actually living in the new body. It is not glamorous. It does not show up well on progress charts. It feels slow, uncertain, and oddly lonely.
That is where I am tonight.
And yet when I zoom out, the truth is undeniable. I have come a long way. One knee replaced. Weight down significantly. Habits changing. Identity shifting from man managing limitations to adventurer rebuilding himself.
The distance to my long hikes still feels far, but it is no longer imaginary. Man taking on adventure and living life to the fullest is alive and growing, even when I am moving slow.
Right now my job is not to push through. It is to arrive. To show up to surgery as steady as I can. To nourish instead of restricting. To move enough to stay loose, not so much that I borrow from recovery. To let this pause be part of the process instead of a verdict on my progress.
If you are reading this and feeling stuck in your own in between, between surgeries, seasons, careers, or identities, I want you to know something.
Stillness is not failure. Plateaus are not the end. Quiet moments are often where the foundation sets.
Tonight I am not chasing the trail. I am preparing the body that will carry me there.
Tomorrow we keep going.
So, let’s talk about the in between and shine a light on this most important aspect of growth and development. The space where we find significance before we achieve success. The space where we feel failure, but only truly fail if we stop. The space where we feel lonely, even when we are surrounded by the love of our support community.
Leave a comment