Checking in....

Hello everyone ~

Just a quick note today. Things are going well with the protocol. I was feeling really great until last Sunday when I decided to push the envelope on exercising more than I should have. I did some stretches that included hanging from a bar to fully lengthen and stretch my arms, and also squatting as much as possible (while hanging onto something). It felt good at the time, but for the next three days my knees were SUPER sore, along with my shoulders and collarbone area (doesn't help that I have a rotator cuff prob with my right arm). In our Chronic Wellness group today we talked a bit about this and I heard from everyone (both fibromyalgia and lyme sufferers) that overdoing the exercise, or in some cases just any exercise period, can be too much and throw the body into severe pain mode. So it's not just my imagination. Exercise really HURTS sometimes! What's hardest is realizing that I need to start waaaaaay smaller than I would like to. Like maybe working from gentle stretches with no repetitions, to stretches with one or two reps, and slowly upward until I'm doing - gasp - six of them. It is just amazing to think that a year ago all of this stuff felt GOOD to do and my body still liked it. It is said that patience is a virtue - I'm still trying to fully appreciate that one.

I want to clarify something I said recently on my blog about not living in fear. Fear can be a healthy thing in certain situations. Obviously, if a snarling dog is running at you, you should be scared and take cover. If you are feeling incredible pain or find yourself in an unfamiliar, unwelcoming situation, it is also natural and normal to feel afraid. What I was referring to earlier was that sometimes it's easy to fall into living in fear all the time because of the stuff the media throws at us constantly. It can be really liberating and health-inducing to stop watching the news and reading the papers. I'm not suggesting we become total hermits to the point that we are completely uninformed, but I do believe that 90% of the "news" out there is intended to play upon our fears, for whatever reason (maybe so their ratings will go up, or you'll buy their expensive medication with the bazillions of side effects, or so you'll be afraid of a certain cultural or ethnic group, or so you'll go out and buy a Hummer, or... whatever...?). Healthy, rational fear is a necessary part of our lives, and may in fact save our lives. Irrational fears can be destructive and paralyze us from living our lives to the fullest.

Just thought I'd throw that in there...

Anyhoo, I'm about to jump in the car and go pick up our weekly bag of healthy organic produce from the Raven and Spade. I SO appreciate them and what they provide for the community! Then back home to watch the rain and wait for the heavy winds that are supposed to hit tonight. Could get interesting....

More soon,

Sukie