Falling Down | Rachel McDonnell

There used to be a television commercial for a company called Life Alert in which an older woman was on the floor crying out, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”  While this scenario isn’t actually funny it became fodder for comedy skits and, back then, I remember being with my teenage friends and mocking this ancient lady’s predicament. The commercial was campy and poorly done and the actual mechanics of getting up off the floor seemed pretty simple for someone not yet old enough to drink alcohol.

It isn’t so funny anymore. After living with multiple sclerosis for over 10 years - getting up off the floor can be very, very, very hard.

I’ve fallen many times over the last few years. I’ve called my husband at work and had him have to drive twenty miles to come help me up. If I hadn’t been able to reach the phone, I would have simply waited… and waited… and waited. My funny MS symptoms and being off balance and out of shape make it easy to fall and impossible to get up.

“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up,” isn’t funny. Being in your early 40s makes it seem even worse. At least the lady in the commercial had a good, long run before this indignity struck her. My family worried, I worried, and I figured it was probably time to see what these Life Alert systems cost.

Since beginning personal training with Asghar, he’s worked on two fronts with me. Targeting the muscles that are weak and exacerbate what is physically wrong is one front. He also has insight into the mental games that contribute to and distract from physical wellness. He has given me the tools to stop panicking and the strength to get myself up.

A few days ago, I slipped in the kitchen and landed on my butt. I was unhurt but feeling the familiar dread of being “stuck.” But, I knew I was physically stronger than I was a month ago. I also heard Oscar’s admonition that the “body follows the mind.” It was time for my head to start barking orders. I had the power to get up. I had nurtured the physical over the last month and it was time to have a little faith I could now manage something that used to be impossible. Asghar speaks in grander language than I do. He’d say I have the “inner power and to see the action in my mind and the true potential I have in myself.”

At that moment on the floor I did think of Asghar’s insight, but my self-talk was more along the lines of “get your fool ass up - you aren’t that wimpy!”

I am proud to say I did, in fact, get my fool ass up. I didn’t need an ambulance, a worried neighbor, or a Life Alert crew to do it. I visualized a plan I had confidence in and executed it. I felt the returning strength in my muscles and they ponied up the service I asked them to give me.

I felt so tricky, so flushed with my victory that I sent texts to Asghar, my husband John and everyone else I could think of. (I may have heard a distant “woohoo!” from Asghar as he read the text… Asghar isn’t exactly what you would call soft-spoken.) Being able to say, “I’ve fallen and I got right up” was such a milestone, such an accomplishment that it is difficult to describe the feeling. You need to have spent time waiting helplessly for assistance to arrive to really savor the sense of independence and freedom such a thing can provide.

Not everyone can relate to my situation, but many of us have something we feel physically “stuck” about – something we once did effortlessly that we can no longer do. Maybe it is lifting a child, playing eighteen holes of golf, playing basketball, walking distances, etc.

If you think differently about it, and believe differently about it, well, you never know what you are capable of.

“I’ve fallen and I got myself up!”