Splat!

My back went out on Thursday night, which wasn’t a huge surprise. I had the typical warning signs: Odd, random muscle pains shooting up my back and down my leg, and an inability to put on my boots. Seriously, I realize that I am slowly getting up there in years, but I workout and do yoga and should be able to bend over and put my shoes on my own middle-aged self. So, when my muscles are too tight to allow me to do something less successfully than the average 2yo, I might as well see a billboard flashing: “Warning! I Can See Your Future And It Looks Sedentary. Prepare To Infirm.”

My back issues usually arise after I have been A) Lifting something Wonder Woman would have been better equipped to carry or B) Not processing stress in a healthy way. I’ve had all sorts of advice regarding chiropractors, exercises, ice vs. heat and yada yada yada. But I know myself well. I’ve had issues with my back since I was 16, and it just takes two days of rest with drugs and a heating pad and I’m good as new.

Being the high-energy sort, it just kills me to lie on the couch for two days straight. But I try to receive it as a gentle time-out from God, putting a little pause on the pace of my life. I attempt to stay peaceful, respect my limitations, and let the unimportant things go. If I need to disappoint someone, life will still go on.

In the midst of my endeavors to be all Zen-like and gentle with myself, my Type A self still managed to accomplish a few things. I......
....finished this month’s Book Club read.
....finished this week’s People magazine.
....nagged and threatened the boys into writing their Christmas thank you notes.
....skyped with my college daughter.
....updated my address file.
....set the dvr to record some movies for my youngest.
....fretted about several incomplete projects, and came to no worthwhile conclusions.

But tonight I am done with the infirming. I will drag my gimpy self off of the couch and into a lovely restaurant to have dinner with friends, hobbling all the way. But it will be worth it. I need my people back.