Riding Elephants

In an earlier post I talked about eating elephants – the idea that after each major surgery it feels like I have a literal and figurative elephant sitting on me and the only way out from under it is to eat it one bite at a time, with a spoon. Each of my physical and mental tools is a way to take a bite and chip away at the enormity of recovery.

I haven’t felt my elephant on me for awhile now. I think it is gone. I’ve moved it off of me.

I have new elephant imagery that is much better for where I am now, courtesy of Jon Levy and his new book You’re Invited.

Now I’m riding my elephant!

In his book, Levy offers the image of a rider and an elephant. The rider represents the conscious mind and the elephant is the subconscious. The rider controls the elephant throughout the day, but as she (my rider is me, so let’s go with “she”) gets tired the elephant takes over and makes decisions the rider might not have made earlier in the day when she was more in control.

Levy uses an example of eating a chocolate bar while on a diet. The rider would say no, don’t eat it, and the elephant would say yes, yum! When does the dieter cave and eat the chocolate bar? At the end of the day when the rider is tired, lacking the control over the elephant.

For me, the goal isn’t a diet but rather surgery recovery. That goal is so massive after each new surgery, I have to let my elephant take a seat on me while we both regroup and I munch away, one tiny spoonful at a time. But now that I have moved my elephant off and I, the rider, have much more strength and control, I get to steer the progress and direction. I get to sit on the elephant now and RIDE!

But how to avoid having an errant, chocolate bar eating elephant?

Here’s the key:

Levy talks about creating the right kind of path for the elephant. Make it narrow, well-defined, and appealing to the elephant. Make it so that wandering is not an option.

What does that look like?

For the dieting chocolate bar eater, don’t make chocolate bars an option! Don’t keep chocolate bars in the house.

For me in regards to recovery, that means crafting my days so that I do all of my active recovery work early in the day, saving the easier, more enjoyable parts for later when I am tired. That way, I don’t miss a single day of the work I need to do. It looks like this:

Mornings:

• Write
• Floor work – yoga, activation, peach bomb
• Bike – Peloton
• Gym – weights workouts
• Ultrasound

I do almost all of this before the kids get up. All when I am most energized. All before any excuses present themselves.

Evenings:

• Floor work – stretching, foam roller
• Meditation cushion
• Ultrasound

I look forward to these every evening, my personal rewards for a day well done.

This is my well-defined elephant riding path, enhanced by all of the tools in my toolbox that I have shared over the last few months. I want success so I’ve designed my days to be sure it happens as efficiently and effectively as possible. My elephant and I are like Secretariat and Ron Turcotte. I mean, looks about the same as my image above, right?

My elephant and I train together in the mornings, no excuses, and agree on the goals.

We have a well-crafted plan. By the end of the day, we both like the gentle recovery pieces that are left, so my elephant stays put with me.

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Jon, I’m digging the rider and elephant analogy! It has me reframing where my elephant is now. It is no longer sitting on me – I’m riding it now and we are laser focused, working our way together down our well-defined path. As a result, I’m a much more effective leader for helping others ride their elephants on their own well-defined paths.

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