C-Level Cirque, Banff, AB

© 2024 Lee Spirit 

2023-2024 were rather challenging years for me, hence a big interruption in my blog posting! I’ve managed to stay relatively calm through it all thanks to all my yoga, meditation, and nature! It pays to build a consistent yoga, meditation, and nature practice! When you’re faced with something challenging, you have all the tools you need to get through it in as peaceful a way as possible! It prepares you for life’s challenges, like this one…

Tripping on a Root Can Change Your Life

At the beginning of June 2023, I went for a lovely little stand-up paddle board in Banff, Alberta, and it was short and sweet. Since it was still early in the afternoon when I finished, I went for a short hike in the area after that- I made it a fairly easy one since I had already done an hour of SUP. 

When I was mere steps away from my destination, the view opened up through the trees finally, so I stopped to take my first photo. Checking over my shoulder I could see the destination not far off. Excited, I looked down at my camera to shut it off after taking my photo – the photo you see above – while taking two excited steps towards my destination. And WHAM-O! I stepped on a slanted root, rolled my ankle, and fell hard to my left with a big pack on my back. I heard the crack when I landed, and knew that couldn’t be good.

Being the tough one I usually am, I stood up and even thought of continuing on to my destination, but knowing about the crack, I figured I should probably head back. I sat on a rock and assessed the pain and the situation for a few minutes and gathered myself, allowing some others to pass and saying hello to them as they went by like nothing was wrong. I really didn’t want to admit my defeat!

Thankfully I had my poles and I continued down back to my car, very slowly. It took me a very long time. A kind girl wanted to make sure I got out okay, so she waited for me at the end and hiked up the trail a bit to see if I was okay. I didn’t even mention the crack, but was grateful for her care and concern, as she, too, was a solo hiker.

Casually, I even drove to Canmore for coffee before making my way home! Ha! Knowing I’d have to go to Emergency likely, I called 811 to ask for advice, as I had never broken anything in my life before and didn’t really know what to do. Based on what I said, she told me I could go to Urgent Care/Emerg as going to the doc the next day might take longer. So I decided to sleep on it, and the next day could barely walk. A good, kind friend agreed to skip his workout to take me to Emerg so I wouldn’t have to figure out how to get a taxi. I knew I’d likely be in a cast and had to let work know that I’d have to be away.

Little did I know that surgery could be a possibility, so I got X-rayed and CT-scanned and told finally at the end of the day that they weren’t going to do surgery. Thank goodness! I didn’t want that, that’s for sure! 

I had no idea how horrible being in a cast and even more so, coming out of the cast, would turn out to be, or how long the recovery process would be. The Physio said it would take 9 months to a year and a half! I’m currently at about 1 year and 5 months in, but my life returned to normal much sooner, thank goodness!

Not to mention the fact that it was my driving foot, and there’d be no way I could make it to work like this, in a big cast up to my knee and crutches that were killing me. I had no idea I would be off work for 2 months, and was granted consent to work from home. I had no idea I’d still be recovering months and months and months later.

Lesson 1: The Ability to Ask for Help: Giving and Receiving Are Both Necessary

I’m not someone who likes to ask others for help. I’m little Ms. Independent normally. But I can’t say I wanted to spend my Summer on my couch in the house during the hot months with no contact with others, and not being able to do any of my regular physical activities. I decided it’s a good skill to have – Being able to ask for help when you need it. I don’t like to bother others, but helping is a two-way process of giving and receiving. It’s always better to give, but the ability to receive helps the giver feel needed, just as accepting help helps you. If you aren’t able to receive help, you’ll never be able to turn around and give back to others.

Lesson 2: You Find Out Who Your Helpers Are and Then You Become a Helper Too

I know we all have a good idea of who our “real” friends are. But when something bad happens like this, you find out who is there for you, and who isn’t. Who offers to help, and who doesn’t. Who offers and then shows up to help, and who only offers, but doesn’t show up. 

Not only do you find out who your true friends are, you may also realize that you were never there for anyone when they needed help. Sometimes until you’ve been in another person’s shoes, you don’t understand how hard it is to get by on your own when you need the help. So you offer condolences, but no real gesture of friendship to spend time together, or help out. 

Being injured is never a good thing, but it made me realize how little effort I have made with my life being so good most of the time, to help others in need. Now I want to help those who helped me, and I sure won’t forget it. Not to mention, it’s good to be a good person in general, being as kind and helpful to others as possible. We are stewards – here to help each other and guide each other along the path of life.

Lesson 3: You Realize What and Who You’re Grateful For

Thank goodness work was so accommodating to my injury, and allowed me to work from home when that isn’t allowed generally. I am grateful for my leaders in making this a smooth process with uninterrupted pay. I felt so guilty that I was away for 2 months and all the paperwork and trouble my leaders had to go through to get me approved for all this, as well as visits to the doctor and physio and paperwork on their end.

Thank goodness too for the friends and family who showed up for me without complaint to take me here or there and help me pick up parcels and keep my vehicle rolling so it wouldn’t be sitting for 2 months before a big vacation to Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Sedona in the Fall months.  They also took me out for coffee and ice cream to keep me company during the Summer months when normally I am so active on my feet.

It also could have been a lot worse, so I’m grateful for my strong, healthy, mostly healed body that got me through this trauma. I have since made a full return to hiking up and down steep mountains, and my other regular activities like running and skiing. I realize how lucky I was, and am!

Lesson 4: You Start to Reflect On and Examine Your Roots

Tripping on a root is supposedly symbolic of a need to stop in your tracks and re-evaluate where you’re at, and if you’re really on the right path. I thought I was making strides with making new friends, and then BAM, I’m woman down, and no longer able to spend that time in nature with the new friends, hoping they’d still be there for me when this was all over.

I was on the hike by myself and enjoying being present in nature, looking forward to so many hikes and Summer activities. I was in my element. If I was on the wrong path, it may be just in terms of doing so much of what I love alone. Perhaps being alone is not the way. While I was making new friends, I still enjoy my solitude in nature, but maybe it’s the Universe’s way of telling me I need to spend more time with others and less time alone.

Tripping on a root is also symbolic of the Mother bond, and that maybe something is off-kilter in that relationship that needs healing. So I thought of my roots, my family, and what needs to be healed there. I thought of how my Mum also broke her ankle around the same time in her life, and finally I was empathetic about how she felt unsupported by her family at that time, and now I finally get how she needed our help more. That new empathy was healing in itself and I told my Mum I finally understand, 25-30 years later! I hope she found some peace in that as well.

But that wasn’t the only roots I needed to examine. I thought of my parents, and grandparents, and great-grandparents. I thought of my siblings, and the traumas my family has suffered in the past. I realized I know very little about my own family history.

Realizing I needed to examine my roots more, I finally picked up a book that a friend recommended to me a while back called, “It Didn’t Start With You – How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How To End the Cycle” by Mark Wolynn. What a book! Even when starting to read it, I was thinking about my parents mostly and the traumas they had been through, and how that may have affected me and my siblings.

The book then mentioned being adopted, which I am! Up until this point, I was only thinking of my adoptive parents and family, never even considering up to this point that my biological roots have an impact on my genes, which in turn affects my patterns, habits, etc. So I looked into those roots too, which in itself was healing.

Lesson 5: Your Time To Help Will Present Itself

I felt that in my time spent in hospital in the Emergency and then again in the cast clinic that it was foreshadowing things to come. Sure enough in Feb. 2024, my Dad had to go to Emergency, and spent 4 long, torturous months in 2 different hospitals with multiple life-threatening things going on. They have now been resolved, but not so much that he can go home. My time to help after all the years of my parents helping me had come. I’m grateful for the opportunity to help out and visit, and bring treats and care, which is another healing of sorts, strengthening our family relationships in the hospitals and care home. The cycle and circle of life is happening, and it hasn’t been easy, but it has offered some healing.

It’s never too late to be a good friend and a good family member. It’s never too late to heal the past, or change and become a better version of yourself.

Lesson 6: You Slow Down and Move More Carefully and Mindfully

I’ve taken a lot of pride in my ability to be so sure-footed and agile in the mountains and in my activities. Now I have certainly slowed down, been watching my step, and been more mindful of my safety on the mountain as I get older and a little more off-balance.

It has been a welcome relief to run shorter distances, to carefully make my way down a steep slope rather running careless and carefree. I’ve not stressed so much about missing a workout during my weeks, and have welcomed slower yoga and meditation. Our bodies age and change, and there comes a time when you must slow down, be more present, be more aware, and be more careful. Just as nature has its cycles of birth, life, death, and rebirth, we move through the same cycle. Being aware of our impermanence helps us slow down and enjoy life and adventures at a slower, easier pace with more presence.

Lesson 7: You Think About Your Own Mortality

As I’ve watched my parents age, I have thought about death more, including my own. I’ve witnessed the enduring power of attorney role, and what’s involved, and I’ve bought my own will kit that I’ve been working through. It’s not a nice or easy thing to think about, but you may as well while you are dealing with the realities of losing your parents and loved ones. It will help them out in the end if you offer a plan for yourself and express your wishes. 

Such a great time to be pondering this as the Autumn comes to an end and we go into the darkness of November. A place to let go, evaluate and reevaluate where you’re at and where you’re going, and a time to be still and listen to the guidance of your soul and where it wants to take you in the coming year.

It’s been a long time since I wrote a blog post, as I’ve been challenged in many ways with these 2 major life events. I’m happy to have finally returned to this space, if even for a moment, with an offering of my lessons. I hope they will help you through something difficult you may be dealing with. Lessons are typically universal, so I hope you’ve found at least a few nuggets of goodness and wisdom here. 

Once again, thank goodness for even the briefest of moments that I get to spend in beautiful nature, taking in the colours of the season, being mindful and present, and recharging my batteries as I deal with the natural cycles of life. Nature is always the best healer!

Lee Spirit is an avid outdoors adventurer with a love for nature, photography, health & fitness, wellness, and spirituality. She helps those with anxiety & negative thinking to become healthier in mind-body-spirit. Her own personal journey has led her to the  study and practice of mindfulness, health, wellness, yoga, spirituality, sound healing, meditation, and personal development for over 20 years. Get mindfulness, meditation, and personal development tips in her Free Natural Mind Healing Report.