Fitness Monday is a community series for health and fitness support. None of the hosts or diarists are professionals. Please consult your own general practitioner if you have questions.
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Today's diary is mostly a personal story, but in talking to others, I realize it's not just my own story, but that many are going through similar experiences.
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I have issues. Some of them are health issues.
I usually don't think of myself as having health problems, but in reality, I do. Four years ago I had a diskectomy, spinal fusion, and plating (C5-6 for those in the club), but the fusion didn't take. The plate held fine, but there's still some slight motion, and no disk to absorb it. This has led to some bone abnormalities which cause pain nearly every day. Usually it's low grade, no more than an annoyance. But every few weeks it'll trigger a headache that makes it impossible to move around or to concentrate, and leaves me exhausted the next day.
This is not the worst thing in the world to deal with. Others deal with far more serious problems, and everyone has something they're dealing with.
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Yesterday I had one of those headaches. A constantly mutating headache that finally settled into feeling like a sledgehammer had pulverized the base of my skull.
This morning the worst had passed, but my neck was still very tender from yesterday's spasms. A shadow headache flitted around my brain, but wasn't willing to build to anything serious.
So I went biking.
A nearby park has a three mile loop, a multiuse trail without motorized vehicles. The plan was to go and see what happened. Would it bring on the headache again? Was I too worn out from yesterday?
I didn't really want to do it, but knew there was no reason I could think of that wouldn't simply be a cover for "I don't want to do this." Once we got there, I figured I'd ride a little bit. Then, if I couldn't do it, I'd stop and wait for my partner to finish the rest of the loop.
I ended up ahead of her on the last leg back to the trailhead. This after having our ride extended a little further because part of the trail was flooded.
I feel better. Riding worked out the stress the rest of my body was carrying. Though my neck and shoulders still have little shooters going through them, they feel less heavy and frozen, and the shadow headache has faded further. Most important: My mood is better. I don't feel quite the victim now.
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So what does this have to do with Fitness Monday?
Simple. Doing something is better than doing nothing. Moving around can help in overcoming at least some kinds of chronic pain, even if it does nothing more than lift the sense of helplessness.
For me, it comes down to this: I hurt. If I don't do anything, I'll still hurt. If I do something, maybe it'll get better.
But it'll be my decision, not the pain's.
Because of my issues I don't feel ready to commit to a regular program. I've written before on Fitness Monday about setting up reachable goals to allow building on success, rather than setting "virtuous" goals that won't be reached, which makes it even more difficult to do anything the next time. We tend to do things that make us feel good -- this happens with reachable goals -- and avoid things that make us feel bad -- which happens with the "shoulds."
So I'm starting small. Very small.
Because this is where I am.
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What's your story?
Where are you starting from?
Where did you start from? And where are you now?