Goals and Action Plans

One of the key elements of St Joseph’s care group is goals and action plans.  They are a client-initiated program, and clients come into the program with goals in mind, that they want to achieve.  During the first session, we are taught how to set a goal and how to see it through.   SMART goals are used (Simple, manageable, attainable, reliable and time sensitive) to gain the most out of the goal.   One of my first goals was to get back into swimming. 

Swimming was always a major outlet for me.  I was good at it, which helped when there wasn’t a lot in the world I was good at.   It also let me focus on the strokes, rhythm, timing and the number of strokes done instead of my anxieties.  Focusing on this let me forget the world that I left behind.  I was a new person every time I entered the pool.   I could just be that person for an hour a day, as the strokes became more frequent, harder and less stress induced.  There was no pain on my body as I swam, as the pressure was off of the muscles and joints.  I could pound my stress out on the water, and the water took it at bay. 

Starting swimming wasn’t an easy fight.  At first, in July of 2017, the recreationalist met me after work at the pool.   We took one week at a time, getting me into the water.  At first, meeting me in the parking lot, then at the front desk, then at the pool side and finally into the water.  

We took it slowly, engaging myself towards the strokes again.  In the water we would carefully reintroduce swimming through aqua movements, gentle stretches and soon, as the weeks progressed running in the water.   I was then able to do strokes on my own.  By this time, I was working with Andrew, the kinesiologist in the water.  

He started my water therapy off slowly, introducing 10 laps, 15, 20, until I got to my ultimate goal which was 40 laps, also known as 1 km.   I was happy with this goal.  However, there was a small problem, and that was that the more I swam the more nauseas I became.   I was at the point where I was throwing up all the time and the nausea was stopping me from obtaining the goal.  I would get out of the pool dizzy and sick.  

After an emergency room visit, for hydration we had to go back to the basics and start from the beginning slowly building up my endurance.  I continued to play with the strokes and the timing that year, but in the end, if I did 1 km every time I ended up in the pool I was happy.   Goals are hard to set and upset was even harder to swallow.  But every time we start the cycle, we need to think of the bigger picture, the reasons we have to decrease and realize the reason why we made the goal in the first place. 

Looking at the bigger picture provided me with hope and opportunity to see the future again.   I knew what I wanted to achieve and where I wanted to go – but I still wasn’t sure how I wanted to get there.  

Goals are two folded.  We have a space where we want to get to, however, we need to limber up to get there.  Between successes there will be set backs and failures.  Although my goal was to swim 1,000m I had to start small and work up, then work back and then up again.   Same with when my goal became 2,000m.  I started at 1,000 worked up and then worked down again.  I had to realize that my body was never the swim team body that I wanted it to be.  I had to realize my limitations and listen to the pain that it was in that day.  Consistency was never easy and it went up and down but, in the end, listening is what had to happen.   I stayed at the 1,000 m goal in realization that this was my normal.  I then fluctuated between 800 and 1200 m but didn't go over the 1200, knowing that the next day would be impacted on the day before.   

It was a frustrating year, but with the assistance of my therapists I knew that anything would be possible.  They gave me hope when I needed it most and caught me, surrounding their expertise with guidance.   They also showed me that it wasn’t them that was doing the hard work, it was me. 

They were just giving me the space I needed to work out my issues.  They provided me with the material and the safe place, and I was the one implementing it.  It was me, in the end, that was doing the hard work!   It wasn’t fair, but man, was it worth it.