Handstands!
Since childhood, I have always admired the grace portrayed by acrobats and
gymnasts through their rhythmic and impeccable coordination of their limbs
which literally sing beautiful tunes. Every single split, headstand or flip
depicts vividly the magic of the human body which, like a paintbrush, dances
around the canvas and paints rainbows. Unfortunately, being almost obese for
nearly a decade and cannot be bothered to even take a stroll, those beautiful
movements only appear in my wildest dreams, and I could only imagine myself
doing these artistic moves in my head.
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| Image sourced from Google. Handstands are really beautiful but demand core and arm strength. |
In
fact, I only started being interested in these movements since I picked up
aerobics in high school. I was always green with envy whenever I saw my friends
performing stuffs like splits and handstands. I told myself: “Why can’t I do
it?” They have limbs and so do I, except that I had a little more “buns” and
“rolls” hanging over them.
So I
started attempting handstands ever since, but failed. Giving up is not in my
dictionary unfortunately (or fortunately?)
It was
on a day in late June 2014 where I worked out in my hostel room as usual. I
tried to attempt a handstand by supporting my body against a chair. All
attempts went well until one, where I almost succeeded in a supported handstand
and then “WHAM!” it went. There was a loud thud on the ground. There went my
left knee. Pain seared through me but I decided that the work out MUST GO ON. I
switched to lighter workouts like busy-people workouts on chairs because, guess
what, I STILL HAVE THE STAMINA OKAY? Well, the zeal to workout was there except
that I was struggling to walk down the stairs. It was no big deal since my
knees often screamed for mercy when I climbed the stairs anyway.
Come
nightfall and my left kneecap became as puffed as the head of a Rohan fish.
Walking felt like a gymnastics stint. It only worsened as the days passed. I
felt like cursing. Why can others do handstands? Why can’t I? Heck, I know that
I’m old for such tricks but there are people who only learn these as adults!
My
parents came at the weekend to visit me. The bruise was (deceptively) small, so
of course, the ointments brought were meant for small bruises because nobody
knew the exact condition of my kneecap. My mum even suggested that light
massages would do since it was a light case of injury. To be honest, the injury
really did look light-just a normal swollen kneecap. That was where my
nightmares began. The massaging proved to be useless because on Monday, I found
myself hobbling to the lecture hall. What used to be a five-minute walk looked
like at least a hundred miles’ journey. At least I could walk.
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| That was my left knee, right after the fall. |
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| The left kneecap, about two hours after the fall. Note the bulging appearance. |
My injury only came to light while
chatting with a friend from Tzu Chi Society. Only when my friends from the
society fetched me to the nearby clinic on Tuesday night, 2 July 2014 did I
realize the severity of the “minor injury”, when even the doctor at the clinic
could not detect the cause and referred me to the Penang General Hospital instead.
It was an arduous and restless two-hour wait at the hospital because there was
a curfew at my campus which required students to return to the campus by 11pm,
whilst we only arrived at the hospital at around 8.30pm! By the time I met the
doctor, I got all but a vague diagnosis and strange “treatments”. According to
the doctor, my injury was “very bad”, but all he gave was a few colourful
pills. I did not understand what the pills could do to my injury but hey, the
doctor should be right, alright?
Alas, the injury took a turn to the
worse and I was unable to walk at all by Thursday. I hobbled my way to the
volleyball court as there was volleyball class in the morning. I excused myself
from the session since I could barely walk, let alone perform other
“complicated” actions like squats and jumps. That could not go on and my
condition got so bad that I had to seek help from a friend to take me to the
office to get fetched to the hospital. It turned out that I had a soft tissue
injury which happened UNDER my skin. The doctors, who were in fact housemen,
actually checked through my injury and bandaged my knee. I could not believe my
eyes. The housemen actually checked through my injury while a qualified doctor
just dismissed me with some pills? I could just imagine the chaotic scene in
the medical world…
Worse was yet to come. I was not
allowed to carry out physical activities for a month and I need at least six
weeks to recuperate. A MONTH? I could not fathom myself being confined to the
chair or the bed for more than an hour a day, let alone being inactive for a
month! Oh hell no… Six weeks sounded like six centuries to me. Bye jogging and
HIITs, hello to troubling people to stress over my chores!
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| This is LIBERATING! I don't know if I can ever do something like her though... (Image from Google) |
Yes, I was even given a medical
leave from 3 July 2014 to 10 July 2014. I could get another week off for my
injury, but one week of troubling my friends over homework and missing lectures
was beyond my level of patience. I need to study and my friends have their
lives too.
POST INJURY
It had
been almost five months since my injury. During my injury, thanks to my
immobility, I gained about 10 kilograms within two months. Of course, it took
more than two months to lose them all and I am still working on it. My clothes were literally wrapping me like a dumpling. It was torturing and humiliating indeed as I walked around, with people laughing behind my back. "Oh she's gained weight!" "Oh she's too fat to have a boyfriend!" What matters more, though, was the MONETARY FACTOR. If I eventually became too fat for my clothes, I would have to empty my pockets on new but ugly clothes, get mom to sew new skirts (which is like adding salt to wounds as she was already busy and unwell), and may have to see the doctor more. Now THIS is the ultimate insult!
That was
not the major focus, however. This injury taught me to be grateful and treasure
my possessions, be it my wellbeing, material possessions, or the people around
me. In this case, my knees and legs are very precious. A hurt knee proved to be
a huge handicap because knees support movements; thus when one is injured,
locomotion becomes difficult. Imagine being able to only move around by
dragging my bottoms or walking with crutches… it was very inconvenient. I
salute those who are handicapped but living strong; I realized that I need to
respect my body and do not take it for granted. As much as I love to learn new
tricks, I need to take baby steps. Rome is not built in a day.
Without
my family and friends, I may have to be hospitalized and give up exercising
forever. That SUCKS. The doctor told me that had I delayed my treatment any
later, I would need to go under the knife. That translates to-no more strenuous
exercises in the future and more troubling for the people around me! I was
grateful that there are people who care and provide support when needed... my parents,
classmates (albeit some bad hats), friends from Tzu-Chi society, lecturers…
Remember,
be grateful and count your blessings, and treasure them by making the most use
out of them and use them as tools towards achieving your dreams. As for
learning, learning takes time, so be patient and persevere! Lastly, remember
that no man is an island.
And
yes, I will NEVER give up in learning handstands. Maybe I should work on my
core strength first, which was only so-so.
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