What I've been reading while laying on my back for the past few days.
I've never been one to suffer from many chronic afflictions.
Okay, maybe I'm not counting the bout of plantar fasciitis from last year that still occasionally rears its ugly foot during my daily comings and goings. And maybe I'm not counting the years of obsessive compulsive behavior I exhibited as a child, turning lights on and off repeatedly and other very annoying little tics and peculiarities that peppered my days from age 9 to about 14. And maybe all those years of smoking cigarettes don't count either.
That said… something went funny in my back over the weekend.
Even so, I managed to get a run in on Saturday morning and a bike ride on Sunday afternoon, and thought, "Oh, no problemo," until a sleepless night of pulsing back pain told me otherwise.
I'm such a baby at times. When some new ailment comes along that I've never experienced before, I imagine any number of horrible things as the probable cause, and usually these are without any merit whatsoever. Still, I find myself wallowing in the possibilities of what it could be.
I do know one thing it's teaching me: count on the unpredictable.
Every time you think you've got a routine signed, sealed and delivered, life will raise its hand to tell you otherwise. Then the question becomes, how will you respond?
I've decided to go with the flow and not freak out that I shouldn't run, or swim, or bike.
I've decided to not sweat it that I drove myself—in pain—to the Burger King for a cheeseburger and fries yesterday.
I've decided that not hitting my goal of running 50 miles this month, the first time I've missed that mark since I started tracking my distance, isn't signaling the end of my running efforts.
I've decided that spending another day on the couch, doing nothing isn't going to kill me.
I've decided to just wait it out, and know that it's very likely going to resolve itself, and then I can get back to the routines I thrive on.
What's your typical response or reaction when something throws a wrench into the works?
Are you a go with the flow type? or the kind who freaks out? or somewhere nicely in the middle?
Now if you'll excuse me I have a date with a couch and the 5th Harry Potter book.
