The Story of a Rotting Deck
On the face of it, this deck looks like it's in great shape. You put your deck furniture on it, you grill dinner for your friends and family, you throw a happy hour on the porch. It looks solid. It looks like it will support what it needs to. It does it's job...until it can't anymore. And sometimes identifying the "can't anymore" timing is hard as the weakness may be barely visible. You might just step on one board and think..that seems a bit soft but then you move on to the next thought and don't spend much time on it. Until, you walk on it a few weeks or months later and realize there's more than just one soft spot. Eventually, you make the decision to have someone look at it with a plan to replace the soft boards. And, guess what, when you pull up the few problem boards, you find that much of the foundational boards are rotting. The good news...you found it before anything bad happened, and you'll soon get to enjoy a whole new deck. The bad news...it's time to pay for a whole new deck.
Yes, this is the story of our deck. Right now, fresh new boards are being installed to create a new, firm foundation. And, soon, we'll be able to enjoy walking out the back of our house again, working from the deck table, and enjoying the quiet of our backyard. But, for now, we need to be patient and wait for the recovery process.
This story works for bodies and our lives as well. On the outside, everything seems to look good. Yes, I get headaches a bit more often or yes, my knee is a bit crackly when I run or walk, or yes, I don't spend as much time together with my friends...but those are just little things, annoyances. Until they're not. Yes, sometimes, it's a short-term situation causing the emotional or physical discomfort or pain, but if we don't address them quickly, they start building and weakening the overall system. It's like the pebble that hits your windshield. Initially, it's just a bit of an indentation or crack so you leave it alone to see what happens. Then, it gets cold or you drive on the highway, and that little annoyance starts to spread, and, instead of a windshield fix, you get to buy a whole new windshield because you waited until it got worse.
We need to regularly check the foundation we're working with...our bodies, our minds, our relationships. When we let them get weak, we risk major impacts. Yes, doing the maintenance to keep the foundations solid is likely boring or tedious or not a priority right now. But, the risk is real. At some point, the foundation will weaken if you're not paying attention. And then the recovery takes much longer than you would like (and may be more costly).
When was the last time you did a health check on your foundations - your body, your mind, your relationships?
If it's been awhile, check for any weak points and consider fixing them quickly.
If you've been postponing firming up the foundation, consider if it's time to take some action before it gets worse.
On the surface, all seems fine. Just make sure the foundation supporting it is solid before you add more weight to it.