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This is an update to a post written previously
I have added a LOT to my tracking process in the 5 years since then!
In THAT post I discussed my “why” of tracking. I feel that if you don’t track a thing you can’t change a thing. If you don’t track effort, you (and by YOU I mean ME) can feel discouraged. When you feel like you have done this thing FOREVER and you feel that you aren’t very good at the thing? You can look back and see “oh I have really only worked on this thing 4 times in the last two months, no wonder I am not tonnes better at it!!” When you track the skill you can notice “when I first started this lift, I could only do 10 pounds. Now I can do FIVE HUNDRED PERCENT MORE!”. It helps when you get discouraged, to be able to see how much you have improved.
I am going through some serious health challenges right now. Therefore, I collect more data about myself than one person should probably have. Because of this data though, my doctors tend to listen when I speak. I have records and graphs to back up what I have to say. I had some palpitations and heart issues after my hospitalization at the beginning of the year (more on that here). Since I had data going back years about my heart rate and my weight/measurements, the doctor who first said it was weight related changed his mind and decided it merited further investigation. (Turns out it was deconditioning from being ill for so long, I am getting better now)
That’s enough on the why, here is my how.
So, like I said, I track a metric TON of data. Here is my Bat Cave
UP FRONT, I have to say, I am an android girl. I do not know if these apps are available in iOS. (is there another operating system? Or just the two? I don’t know). Also, I have added these apps ONE AT A TIME. Each of them has their own learning curve. All in all, I spend less than ten minutes a day tracking my activities. It took time to set everything up and learn the different apps, but all of my tracking is automated. That’s why I prefer these apps. There is no shame in not using as much tech as I do! When I first started, I put gold foil stars in my planner to track my different goals. You can do either, or you can make a spreadsheet, or you can use a notebook. ALL ARE VALID. I am merely posting *MY* favorite FREE apps.
Most of the data I track, is done automatically. Sleep, heart rate, and step data is automatically synced to the device app. I currently use Fitbit. I make a goal, today my step goal is 6k, because I am recovering from ankle surgery. I then let the app tell me how I am doing. I adjust that goal based on my abilities and recovery status. I am working on another goal “10 active minutes per day”, that is rolled up with the step goal. I have a good streak going. I get an alert on the app, it automatically logs >10 minutes as an “exercise” and I can look at that streak there. For me, that is as good as a gold star on the calendar!
I use the app daylio to track my moods to see if there is a correlation between my activities and my feelings. I DID find that there is a positive correlation between an “awesome” mood and the activity “outside time”. There is a fairly swift learning curve. It took me about 2 weeks to have all the activities I wanted to track added to the app. After that, it’s a simple two step entry. I have it set to alert me to log at 8 pm. Then on the first step you tell it your mood, which you can customize. The second step, you select your activities and then type some words about your day.
These are some of the activities I track.
The App then generates reports for you, both monthly and yearly that you can see. It has all kinds of cool graphs that you can generate, and you can see when there is a correlation between a mood and an activity.
One of my yearly reports
Another yearly report
Another yearly report
This app has been amazing in helping me see trends in things. And also in disproving the beliefs of my OLD PCP, namely that my pain correlated with my moods and was caused by my depression. Tracking this takes me less than 30 seconds on a nightly basis. I usually will copy/paste one or two of my facebook statuses or a line or so from a blog post I made that day.
I have Zombies Run and Charity Miles in my Bat Cave. I run them when I am walking or running. I ADORE ZR. It isn’t so much a tracking app for me, but it is there so I am naming it. Charity Miles is a really neat program that you run while you are “running”. They donate to a charity of your choice (you choose from a list) a certain amount for every mile you run. Jefit is the app I use to track my gym workouts. I set up my routines, and then I use it in the gym to track each exercise. It has a rest timer and animations of proper form. On the computer you can access your account and see graphs that show your progress in your different lifts. These are apps I access during a workout (either a walk/run/hike/bike/gym trip/etc) to track the specifics of THAT workout. I only count the miles with my step tracker, and generally use the step tracker app to track frequency of workouts.
For tracking other things, I use Habits ( AKA loop habit tracker). You set it up with the positive thing you want to track. Then you can set it to ask you on a certain schedule yes/no if you did that task. For instance, this is my “Check all the heroes, including yourself” habit. It reminds me daily at 2 pm. This is my reminder to 1 check with myself if I met my step goal (or if I am on track to meet it) and 2 check in with you guys! The alert comes up and the options are “check” and “later” (I never pick later though, I leave the notification until I have done the thing, or I know I will NOT do the thing! I forget to go back and check it in the box if I don’t have the notification. And it’s easier to click the “check” on the notification than to open the app, click the box, etc). The report screen shows you information about your longest streak (not shown in pic) and which days you did the goal (shown). It also shows you a “strength” score. I am not entirely sure how that is calculated. Only that I am improving.
PLEASE don’t look at this and feel overwhelmed. Ok, maybe you can look at all those x’s for things I am NOT caught up on and feel sad at me because I am doing poorly with those! It took me a LONG time to work up to having this many goals. And some of them are just things “oh hey I need to remember to do this on a semi regular basis so let’s see how I do with it”. I only add ONE THING at a time to my routine. NEVER more than 3. And only 3 if it’s an easy thing. I will change one thing at a time so as to not overwhelm myself. So when I am in a position where I am ready to add back “bedtime routine” I will add a simple routine of brush teeth, then bed. After a week or two, I will add a thing to it. So then it would be, brush teeth and declutter for 5 minutes then bed. And so on. I am a simple person and I am VERY easily overwhelmed!!!
You can set this up to track any positive habit you want to track. (So rather than tracking “no junk food” you would track “eating healthy”) They think, and I agree “it is better to rephrase your habit in a positive way.” I don’t like to track my failures! I want to track my awesomeness!
You will see that I have Smarter Time . I have just started using this one, so I don’t have an actual idea of it yet. I am hoping to use it to be able to lessen the amount of time I spend on facebook and playing games.
Another one I want to talk about is mySugr. This app connects with my glucometer via Bluetooth, and allows me to track my food. I track my diabetes medication doses as well. I use this to see the correlation between my blood sugars and my “diet” (I put quotes around that because I believe “diet” is all the food that goes into your body, rather than an attempt to modify my body.) I can see information about my blood sugar over the last week, fortnight, and month. I am also able to generate a 2 week or 3 month report PDF that I can share with my doctor. This is probably the most intensive of all the apps I use. It still takes MAYBE a minute to log an entry though. Just snap a quick pic, use voice to text (or type, but voice is faster for me) to record a brief description, and lastly select a couple of categories of things.
For example, this entry shows my fasting sugar and details about my coffee. I select the appropriate icons for supplements (for the collagen) and nuts (almond milk). Then my victoza dose is under the long acting insulin (because it’s a little cranky about new drugs).
This is basically my current tracking set up. Please remember, I have added these apps ONE AT A TIME, over the course of years. Each of them has their own learning curve. All in all, I spend less than ten minutes a day tracking my activities. It took time to set everything up and learn the different apps, but all of my tracking is mostly automated.
If you have an app you’d like to recommend, or you need help setting up a system of tracking, or if you have questions about THESE apps; let me know. I won’t claim to be an expert on any of these apps, but I am a daily user.
Please join us in the forums! Come on home, there’s a seat at the table for you!
I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a hero.
To me, a hero is someone who is self sufficient; but also realizes when they must rely on their tribe for counsel. A hero is one who is courageous. Franklin Roosevelt said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” A hero is one who holds themselves accountable to others. A hero is one who holds others accountable. A hero is one who edifies others, even when it is difficult. A hero is brave. “The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” (Nelson Mandela) A hero ACTS even in the face of fear.
I believe that you become a hero by acting and speaking like one. You become a hero by facing your fears and by helping others face theirs. You become a hero by becoming a person of your word. What you SAY you do.
I believe that the tongue is the rudder of the body, what we TALK about is what we think about and what we manifest into our lives. If you want to become a hero, you have to choose to be one. You have to daily make choices that carry you along your path to heroism.
I am building my tribe. I want to surround myself with heroes. I want to help build you up and hold you accountable. I also need to be held accountable. I believe that as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17). My tribe, we are going to be fearless heroes.
My tribe, we are a group of friends who wish to encourage each other and hold each other accountable in our workout endeavors.
In essence we are heroes.
Why Kintsugi?
From Wikipedia:
Kintsugi, also known as Kintsukuroi, is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
None of us are perfect. All of us have had injury, or pain, or something that has lead to us being in a state that we want to change. We want to ADD to our routines, to add to our lives; and to do it in such a way that we honor the history of our bodies. We want to acknowledge where we are in our training, and to grow from this place. Hence Kintsugi. To treat the breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
The idea is that we are taking whatever scars we have and filling them with purpose in order to restructure the needs of our body. It isn’t as much about goal setting and goal keeping, it’s about acknowledging and accepting how the choices we make (good or bad) affect our abilities to perform…in the hopes that with support, accountability, and the positive momentum that a new program can give us, we can not only meet goals, but we can keep trying even when we don’t…to find the gold we need to fix our broken pottery, as it were.
So, I feel like in that spirit, we need to all be on the same page, or at least in the same book. We’re trying to get our bodies right in order to have the strength and courage to get the rest right. We need the people around us to have the same goals, or we may as well be going it alone! To put a finer point on it, the group needs to be primarily a fitness related group.
I am starting a forum, and I would like you to join me! We will be a tribe of heroes!
https://kintsugiheroes.createaforum.com/index.php
Start Now
We are starting with NOW. Rafiki teaches us that the past teaches us great lessons, but that the past is the past.
I don’t want to talk about the past in absolutes. I NEVER. It’s ALWAYS. I CAN’T EVER. The list could go on forever. That’s the past. The past is a lesson we learn from. We are starting with the current time and moving forward. I don’t care if you couldn’t ever do a thing in the past. I can help you plot the path to being able to do that thing in the future. I believe that nothing is impossible!
Join me my friends, let us be an amazing tribe of humans who reach wondrous heights.
https://kintsugiheroes.createaforum.com/index.php
Resolutions
Previously published on
“slay your own damn dragon”
A new year is a time to change right? I’ll start Monday. I’ll begin that diet on the first. The new quarter will be a new beginning. But why? Why do we have to have a symbolic start to make a change? I understand the symbolic aspect of it but I want to challenge you. EVERY day is a new day and the possibility of change. Every day is a day to begin again. Think about how many resolutions we, as a people, have set over the years and not adhered to. Imagine if we did everything like that. I’ve fallen down, but wait, I can’t get up until a new week starts. Never-mind the fact that today is Monday, I have to wait for the new week. It doesn’t make sense! I’m going to lay here until Monday!!
What’s even worse is that we all collectively keep making this weird decision to maintain tradition and this symbolic ritual, rather than making real changes. It’s almost like we get more committed to the act of making resolutions than to the actual resolutions themselves. According to Statistics brain ( http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/ ) 41% of Americans usually make a New year’s resolution. 42.4% of them “never succeed and fail” at those resolutions. So why do we continue? Almost half of all resolutions fail! That’s not a very positive statistic! History.com ( http://www.history.com/news/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions ) tells us Humans started making resolutions in Babylon about 4 millennia ago. These first resolutions were “promises to the gods”, now our resolutions are self promises. This change in direction hasn’t helped much our ability to KEEP those resolutions.
We keep making resolutions because the thought of a new beginning. The thought of a “fresh start” due to a “temporal landmark” such as a new year, month, whatever; can often motivate us towards change! ( https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psyched/201312/why-we-form-new-year-s-resolutions ) I believe though that we don’t need a major temporal landmark to embark on change. We are given a chance every day!
(sunrise picture copyright alienjenn)
So, I’ve decided not to make resolutions. Those massive changes that are based around some mystical temporal landmark never seemed to work for me! I made the decision to make small changes. One day of failure doesn’t mean that I failed at my “resolution”, it just means that I have learned what doesn’t work. Over the years, I have learned a LOT of things that haven’t worked.
Don’t go it alone.
Every time that I failed, I was alone. There are reasons that Superheroes have Leagues, and teams. Reasons why cavemen gathered in tribes. Many reasons why societies all over the world and all over time have gathered into familial units. People succeed better when they have a tribe. I found my tribe. We can be yours.
Don’t make stupid goals.
It took me many many years before I learned about SMART goals. Every single goal that I failed at? It wasn’t a SMART goal. Every single one. Developing a SMART goal isn’t very difficult but it took me a long time to realize how important they are. We will go into creating smart goals more in future posts. For now though we will follow this definition or SMART: S – specific, M – measurable, A – attainable, achievable,R – realistic, T – trackable. Learning SMART goals was one of my first successes!
Don’t run before you walk.
Most of my failures came from biting off more than I can chew. Trying to run before I even walk or crawl. I made massively complicated and intense goals. I try to go from zero to sixty in a minute and miss one to fifty-nine.
Don’t give up
So many times I would make a goal. Let’s say I made a goal to lose 10 pounds. Nice and reasonable, right? Then let’s say I lost 8. That’s a pretty good success right there I think! But past me would be so upset about missing the mark that I would give up! I’ll go into it in a later post why I feel that weight based goals are not SMART goals, but this is part of that reason. I learned that just because I didn’t make it TODAY, that doesn’t mean I will never make it. I got into the mindset of celebrating effort and successes. I make goals like “lift weights 3 x week” rather than “lift 200# in two months”. I can go and put the effort in but I can’t always say that my progress will be directly proportional to my effort. We have all seen the picture, it’s more true than anything I have ever seen.
(image of your plan vs. reality)
Don’t look at failure as negative!
If I could go back in time and tell younger me this one (ok, ok, assuming I would LISTEN to older me), it would revolutionize my life. Failure is a fact of life. How many free throws has Michael Jordan missed? How many field goals has Stephen Gostkowski missed? How many field goals has David Beckam missed? How many times did Stephen Amell fall before he perfected the salmon ladder? How many rejection slips did Stephen King get before he published his first book? How about Colonel Sanders? I could go on and on!
“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
Don’t forget to celebrate EVERY victory
Sometimes I get it into my head that when I go to the gym, I HAVE to do more than last time. But that doesn’t always happen. I have chronic pain that interferes with my goals. Sometimes walking on the treadmill and doing a little yoga is ALL I can do. The part of me that knows I can lift 20,000 pounds in a gym session gets VERY frustrated with “only” walking and a little yoga. But I remind myself that “only” doing anything is better than doing nothing. So you only went for a 10 minute walk today? You could have stayed on the couch. So you only went for a 2 mile bike ride? You could have stayed in bed! So you only parked in the last row of the parking lot? You could have parked close to the door. I don’t care how little you do, it’s still more than nothing.
Don’t think that it HAS to be expensive.
There is always a belief that “getting fit” has to be expensive. And I will admit sometimes it can get expensive. Those gym memberships can add up. The fancy brand name yoga pants, the state of the art bicycle, the perfect running outfit, the gear (oh don’t get me started on gear!!!); it can all add up. But it isn’t NECESSARY! You can walk at the track at the park. You can buy a bike from a pawn shop. You can do pull-ups and push-ups on the playground. You can dance like a madman (or woman) with your kids. You can swim. You can find a YMCA with an income based membership. You can play the ground is lava (you really should, it’s really fun, especially when the other parents have decided you are nuts). You can go to your local national park and hike and climb trees! My point is, there are so many free things out there. It is important to do things you LOVE. Sometimes it’s hard to find what you love when you first start. You don’t have to spend a fortune going over different fitness hobbies before you find one you love.
Don’t do stuff you hate!
Do you hate running on the treadmill? Don’t do it. Do you hate lifting? Don’t do it. Do you hate dancing? Don’t do it. There are so many different things out there that you CAN find something you love. There’s different machines that can get your heart rate up. You can do nine million different things outside the gym even. Don’t like yoga? How about aerial yoga? How about aerial silks? How about tumbling? How about roller derby? Fitness is NOT one size fits all.
Don’t forget to treat your work towards your goals like it’s important.
Every Sunday evening, I look at my work schedule and I figure out what days I will go to the gym. I put them in my calendar. It’s an appointment with myself that practically requires an act of congress for me to reschedule. I plan the gym first (ok, well, I plan work first, but of my NOT work things, I plan workouts first). Because it’s an important part of my life. I HAVE to do it. When you ride on an airplane, the steward says “put your own oxygen mask on before helping others with theirs”, in their safety speech. Have you ever wondered why? Because if you pass out from lack of oxygen, you are unable to help others! It’s the same with your health. Fitness, and general healthiness go hand in hand. Eating a balanced and healthy diet, getting adequate rest, drinking enough water, getting enough activity; these are all part of a healthy life. Since beginning my fitness journey I have cut my sick time more than in half. I have cut the SEVERITY of my sick time in half. Used to be, an illness would floor me for a week or so with lingering effects for months. Now, I get a cold and I am sick for a few days and back to my normal self in a week or so. I haven’t been hospitalized in years (used to be an at least yearly event for me). I don’t care what kind of health you are dealing with, getting fit will improve it.
So, join me in not making new resolutions. You don’t have to lay on the floor til the new week, if you fell on Tuesday. You don’t have to do things you hate. You can do it! How can we help?
Love y’all lots,
alienjenn
2018 wrap up
It’s been a tradition of mine for the last few years, to do a year end wrap up. I usually include a list of the fantabulous things that I have accomplished, and some pretty neato pictures. Normally, I would post throughout the year, and my recap would include links and fabulous stuff. But, I have kinda been on hiatus from posting here at the blog. I haven’t really felt the most amazing and inspiring this year, and haven’t had things that I felt individually would make for good posts. Also, I sort of have the mindset that I can’t just jump right back in. Somehow, since this blog is my life and my journey and whatnot, I need to catch you up!
This year, I don’t know where to start really. I mean, the year started VERY promising. I was getting back into the gym. I was getting back into running. I had an 18 minute mile! I finished up an awesome assignment in Greenville, South Carolina. It was the end of six months spent there, I was ready to move on!
Next, we headed to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was amazingly beautiful! So many amazing places to hike, very close to home base!
Ezra and I hiking near Home Base in Santa Fe
We got to visit friends in ABQ.
Ellie and I had lots of fun blowing bubbles and flying kites!
Even the dog parks were fantastic
The view from the hospital I worked at was amazing.
The air in New Mexico was so clear, we could see EVERY SINGLE star. I felt like I was in an IMAX planetarium production of the stars, rather than hanging out at the doggo park! I mean, even the view from my balcony was breathtaking!
Diana on the balcony
I REALLY enjoyed my time in Santa Fe. Until I realized that there was a significant altitude difference between The Fortress in Virginia and Home Base in Santa Fe. I developed altitude sickness. I started to notice symptoms in my first week, and posted about it in Fatgirlrunning.
Jenn Alienjenn Frye
Today’s run was less than about twenty steps. It’s my third day in Santa Fe (7199′ elevation). I came from Virginia(1325′). Apparently someone switched the air with helium or something because I couldn’t breathe. It’s ok though because I still managed 3 miles in about two and a half hours (had to stop so many times to rest, I’ve got lung issues and I’m not about to risk some sort of elevation issues!)
Anyone in Santa Fe?
I knew that I have respiratory issues. They have landed me in the hospital more than once. I pretty much spent all of my freshman year of high school in and out of the hospital. I should have gone to an urgent care or the ER in my second or third week. Instead I listened to my fears (oh my can we say anxiety about fat biases?) and my stubbornness (eh, that’s just a small cough and that headache isn’t really bad, I’ve had worse!!) and I didn’t go.
I didn’t go until my fabulous nurse manager insisted. I went to the ER from work, and they said it was probably altitude sickness. I went home, and then I wasn’t getting better. Finally I went to the ER again (again at my nurse manager’s insistence, I told her I was well enough to go to work the next day! I could stubborn through until I was better!) and they admitted me for respiratory failure secondary to altitude sickness. The first night, I was afraid I was going to die. They put me on bi pap (it’s a lot like the CPAP that people use at home for apnea, but with different settings) for the first few days twenty four hours a day, and then just at night.
Eight days passed, and I was ok enough to go home and supervise Chris packing the apartment and the trailer. My discharge instructions simply said “return to sea level”
We packed, and left shortly after I was discharged. The ride from Santa Fe was very difficult. We got to ABQ and I could feel a difference. I could tell a difference in my breathing by the next day! We planned a stop in Fayetteville, on the way home to The Fortress in Virginia. My friend Danielle had sprained her ankle and her husband was out of town for a few days, so it made for a perfect “recovery with just the girls” kinda retreat!
Jo, Danielle, and I eating “recovery sundaes”!
I started feeling like myself again! I was taking little walks to try and regain my strength. Then, one day we went to the park. See those tiles? They’re the shock absorbent stuff that is supposed to help prevent injuries and make it safe for children to play there. I noticed when we got there that there was gaps and it didn’t look very safe. I was super careful, until we were leaving. I stepped in one of the cracks and rolled my ankle.
Ezra watching Tim climb
I didn’t know it at the time but I hurt myself pretty badly. We continued home to The Fortress, taking it easy. My foot didn’t get better, so I brought it up at my planned doctor’s appointment. They recommended me to an orthopedist, who recommended a MRI. There is a super long convoluted story that involves five different doctors and multiple imagings and a whole lot of waiting. The verdict was that I tore some ligaments and I had an osteochondral lesion on my talus. (The talus is basically the cornerstone bone in the archway that makes the ankle. The OCL was essentially a sort of bruise in/under the cartilage that covers the talus.) I had surgery on 17 September to repair the ligaments and the OCL.
Ezra sitting and snuggling with me. This boot was HOT.
It was a LOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG summer. First on crutches, then with a kneeling scooter, it was mid May when I got the results from the MRI and Doc said no more walking on that foot. I live in a one bedroom, slightly bigger than a shoe box, apartment on top of a garage. I think I have half a billion steps. Like seriously. I had to crawl up and down the stairs to come and go. I was having a tremendous amount of pain in that ankle. Leaving it down for more than a couple hours was unbearable. I was pretty much STUCK here. On rare days when I woke up and it was still cool enough to sit outside (it gets HOT when you sit in the sun!), I would sit and take my coffee on the porch.
Diana, Chris, and Ezra keeping me company on the porch
Surgery went well. The splint was HUGE, and heavy, and until they got my pain meds straightened out; I was in a great deal of pain. I realized though, that I have my mom’s toes. And I had a moment like in Beaches, when Hillary is frantic searching for the picture with her mom’s hands.
Left, Ezra touching mom’s foot. Right, my foot in the cast.
This summer was difficult. You only have to take a quick look through the pages of my blog, to see that I am ALWAYS outdoors. And I am ALWAYS moving. I was confined to a VERY small apartment for most of the summer. Going out was such an ordeal to get down the stairs and leave and to get in and out of the car. I couldn’t do anything without taking Chris with me.
My anxiety also played heavy and mean tricks on me. I was anxious about EVERYTHING. Money, the house being dirty, being waited on hand and foot, would the surgery work, would I ever be able to walk and go back to work, all this would go through my mind fifty times a minute. It wasn’t until November that I was able to get into a neuropsychiatrist and get some help with my anxiety and ADHD. I am doing much better now. Finally properly treating my ADHD and anxiety and depression is making a world of difference in EVERYTHING. I feel nearly human now! (there is some question of “is the low energy levels cause by some sleep disorder or narcolepsy?” or “is it caused by ADHD?” I go to see the sleep clinic in January)
Sticker from superfit heroes.
Sarah Robles “My superpower is resilience, what’s yours?”
So, I started physical therapy on 1 November. It’s been rough working through the stiffness in my ankle. Energy levels were tremendously low. I honestly thought I was dying before this last visit with the neuropsych. Finding the energy to walk and get my steps was very difficult, because if I pushed myself TOO hard I would spend the next day or three sleeping. Starting adderall has been so amazing! I don’t know why I fought this for so long. (OK, I think that it has a lot to do with the stigma surrounding mental health and the feeling that if I took drugs I would be weak. I am not sure why I was ok with drugs for anxiety and depression, but not for ADHD? Honestly, my logic can be flawed sometimes.)
The scars on the outside of my ankle
My foot is healing surprisingly well. I am out of the boot, and wearing a saddle brace. It’s really sturdy, with lacing and straps and such. It really limits my mobility (which is the point, but I want to run and move and I am being impatient!). Surgeon says, I am not allowed to run until spring, and no trail running until next fall. I go back to him at the end of the month and I will find out when he thinks I can go back to work. I HAVE to be capable of sustaining 10k steps every day, for me to feel confident that I can go back to work. Right now I am averaging 5-6k.
Ezra and I at the JMU Arboretum.
I am excited to be able to get out and about now. I can go places alone. I can mostly walk without any supports, except for when it’s uneven or long distances. I use my hiking stick for that.
It’s been a year, I will give it that. It didn’t feel amazingly eventful, until I wrote it all out. I do have to shoutout to everyone who has helped me. Between friends coming over and making meals, THANKS NOUCHONE!
Nouchone came and we prepared “hot pot”, it was amazing!
And meeting others out and about, HEY YOLO!
Yolo and I at the park
Meeting other friends for the BEST gluten free donuts I have EVER had, hi Desi and fam!
Desi and her littles, and me 🙂
Between all these friends here locally, and those on the interwebs. I kept mostly occupied and entertained. Between Gofundme, an anonymous benefactor (who basically supported me by loaning me a shit ton of money, WHICH I swear I will repay, even if it takes me ninety years!), gifts from family and friends, and social services I have managed to keep a roof over our heads and foods in our bellies.
Blogging snacks
I am hoping that I will be able to go back to work mid-January, and I am planning to file my taxes ASAP (it looks like I should get enough to build up a little bit of an egg to get us through until I can start earning moneys again). I am trying not to be anxious of the money/work situation. I have an AMAZING recruiter who will find me a contract the minute I tell her that I am ready to go back!
Looking forward to goals for the next year is also usually part of my recap. I usually make some grandiose amazing goals, you know like I wanna run a thousand miles or I want to do so many push ups or I want to do 365 yoga routines. I don’t feel that this year. I kinda feel like this year should be devoted to healing my body and my mind. I kinda feel like I want to learn more about this vessel that I live in and what IT wants from me. I have recently (as in this week) started trying to transition to a more wholesome and anti-inflammatory diet. I haven’t yet noticed any differences. I want to do more natural movements and yoga. I have been working on a daily meditation practice.
I want to continue those things, and figure out what else my body wants.
I don’t know. I turn 42 in the coming year. This could be the year that my body and I finally get on speaking terms!
alienjenn 