Habits and Routines

It's been interesting watching events of the last few days unfold. We've known for days that there was a good probability of atypically bad weather coming for our area.  Let's face it, we're in the south. We do not cope with freezing rain and sleet with the same blasé attitude our neighbors to the north seem to have. We tend to be poorly prepared to manage without electricity or a frequent trip to the grocery.

 

I've got to admit I am a creature of habit. Most of us are to some extent or another. We get up in the morning in a particular way. We follow a particular path through our days. It may vary some by day but essentially we are very predictable. We have our habits, our routines, our way of doing things and we don't really like to deviate from that.

Have you ever noticed, when your week has been disrupted by a holiday or a snow day, that it takes a day or two to reorient yourself in time? You've broken your routine and been forced to modify your habits. 

 

Habits and routines are powerful tools. Most that we use are just ways we've found to do everyday activities in ways that work for us. They're not right. They're not wrong. They're just our way. What would happen if we changed our habits so that they are truly to our advantage? What if we stopped habits that were harmful and replaced them with helpful habits?

Replace compulsive spending with a little compulsive saving. Replace grabbing a quick, sugar laden snack with something healthier. Replace 30 minutes spent sitting still, unwinding with 30 minutes of exercise. Replace one habit at a time, one week at a time, one old routine with a new one; gradually improving along the way. 

Sick of It

This has been a quiet week for our household. Two of my children were sick most of the week. Fortunately, due to a mid-week holiday, it was the least scheduled week of the month. Wednesday night Scout meetings were canceled. There were no Thursday  or Friday afternoon meetings. It was blessedly quiet week all the way to the end.

 

That wasn't the case for many folks. A few hardy souls were lining up outside favored stores by Wednesday evening waiting for bargain shopping that would be coming up soon. Newspapers, TV, and radio all oozed a constant flow of information on where the best bargains would be found on Black Friday.

 

Why do I hear "Black Friday" but think "Black Plague?" It could be because the whole general concept disgusts me.  Folks are in such a hurry to get a deal that the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday and the upcoming Christmas holiday are totally forgotten.  No, let me correct that. The meaning of the holidays is ignored. It's bad enough that the Thanksgiving feast has turned from a special meal for which we are thankful into a culinary orgy of gluttony. Or, since it's not easily commercialized, the Thanksgiving gathering is reduced to nothing more than a meal with a archaic theme. Follow that closely with a grab-fest of greed induced shopping and I find the whole weekend nauseating.

 

I'm stunned. Really? People fighting over televisions and towels because they're on sale? A plague on us indeed if this is what our affluent society has come to! 

Wintering Over

I just brought my scrawny, little stevia plant into the house for the winter. This was the neglected plant, the little sibling to a larger version of the same herb. Stevia is a plant that wants to be outdoors in the warm sunshine in warmer temperate and sub-tropical regions. Here, I'm just hoping to keep it alive all year. At the first sign of sub-freezing weather, I brought it into my garage. The poor little plant was not happy. It's cold and dark in the garage.  It's the place I bring some of my plants to wait out the winter while they cling to life. By bringing it into the house, I'm hoping I'm giving it a better chance at survival. I can give it more light, both natural and artificial.  I can keep it's soil moist. I can give it what it needs to grow and thrive again in the spring.

 

As I look at this little plant, I'm reminded of the past year. There have been seasons of struggle and seasons of bloom for me. I'm trying to find the time to remember to nourish myself physically, mentally and spiritually so I'll have the strength to flourish and bloom in season.

 

Maybe that's what wintering over is all about. Shorter days and longer evenings tend to force a slower pace of life. It's a time for plants and people to rest and regroup.  It's a good time to reassess priorities and revamp plans. We're approaching the holiday season with Thanksgiving Day this week. Perhaps, taking time to start with a reflection on the blessings of this year will help to put all the rest in proper perspective.

Seeds of Discouragement

I'd promised myself that I wouldn't pay any attention to my doctor saying I might never get my flexibility back and that I might always need help of some sort in tying my shoe or putting on socks. I told myself I could just put that thought out of my mind and wait to see what happened. I was wrong.

That little negative thought has been swimming in the back of my head all week. Although I've worked to ignore it and laugh off the early warning of possibly impending limitations, it was still there. It left me feeling like, maybe, I wasn't really progressing. Maybe, it was all in my imagination.  Maybe, pushing myself to stretch until it hurt a bit was wasted effort.

I've tested the reality so there's no question. Four weeks ago, I could walk about a half mile in 25 minutes.  This week I was consistently walking 1.5 miles in 30 minutes and I've stopped using the hiking pole for reassurance. Four weeks ago I could not reach my left foot at all. Now, If I work it just right, I can get a sock on without using my assistance device. I can't always do it but I can some of the time.  Four weeks ago I couldn't sit on a 18 inch tall stool and raise myself up with just my left leg. I could do it at 20 inches, but not 18. I can do that today.  Four weeks ago, I couldn't step up with my left leg onto the top of a 12 inch tall step.  Today I can step up on a 14 inch tall step.

My progress may be in fractions of an inch but it IS progress. A quarter of an inch gained this week, a couple of degrees more bend over the next week or two. That's all I ask. It is progress, even if it's slow progress. I know there will be times when I don't seem to be getting better. I will not let someone stop me from trying.

The power of a negative suggestion, a criticism, or a negative thought are amazing. Keep it positive because the negative will do nothing but hold you back and tear you down.

Status Report

Tomorrow will mark the 84th day since my hip replacement surgery. Things seem to be going very well. I've not been quite as good as I intended at doing the daily physical therapy exercises as I originally planned. It's easy to forget to do that.

 

I had my 12 week follow-up appointment with the surgeon today.  He was pleased with my progress. He said the bone grafts he did are healing well. The prosthesis appears to be well seated and bonding to my bone. I did manage to leave him stammering with one question. I wanted a concrete idea of what the outer limits of my recovery might be.  I showed him a picture of a climbing wall at our local Boy Scout Camp and asked if there was any reason I might not be able to eventually climb it. He was shocked by my question. It seems no one has ever asked him that.  He was kind but he really advised against the climbing wall. O.k. I'll find something with less risk of twisting limbs into odd positions while bearing your weight precariously on randomly placed knobs.  The list of things I can do is still much longer than the list of things I can't or shouldn't do.

I'm finding ways to work exercise in that is specifically designed to help strengthen my hip and increase my flexibility. I keep the list of physical therapy exercises where I can see them. I try to do a few every day at some point in the day. I walk between 1 and 2 miles 3 or 4 days per week. That's done wonders for helping me regain a natural stride. I'd limped for 7 or 8 years.  I don't limp any more!  I'm also back to exercising at a gym 3 days per week.  Each week, almost each day I go, I get to try some movement or exercise that wasn't possible before.

 

My doctor indicated, and I agree, that continuing exercise and stretching are going to be important to my ongoing improvement.  I still need to work on further stretching and strengthening the muscles in my hip. It's possible that I may never regain the full range of motion.  I'm not going to think about that.  I don't want to limit myself while I'm still working toward maximum recovery. For now my focus is on making my best efforts a little better each time I try.

Stuck in a Rut

Sometimes I get a bright idea to do some quick little job by myself instead of asking for help. This past June I needed to pick up some wheat straw to mulch my garden. It was a simple task. It would give me a chance to see if I could use our manual transmission truck to run a longer errand.  I'd begun to have problems being able to use my left leg to depress the clutch enough to change gears. Holding the clutch in a stop lights was becoming very painful some days.

I climbed into the truck and scooted across town to the co-op for some bales of straw. I hadn't gotten far before I was sure a longer drive was out of the question. This was just going to have to be a quick errand. I got to the co-op and back without incident. I decided to drive through the yard to the garden to dump the bales out of the truck beside the garden.  I'd walked around to check to see if the ground was firm.  It had rained a few days earlier but everything seemed o.k.

 

Well, I didn't allow for the fact that the truck would have to pass further from the end of the house than I walked. Just a few feet over from where I walked, the ground was so soft that you sank in a bit as you walked. I didn't know that. You can imagine what might happen to a truck weighing a several thousand pounds. The truck bogged down 30 feet from the garden.  Nothing I could do would make it move forward or backward. It's a two-wheel drive truck so I couldn't get the extra traction I needed. I was well and thoroughly stuck.  Some days, you just have to walk away and not look back. Our truck sat there for a couple of days until a friend pulled the truck out of the rut with his Jeep. What can I say? The right tool made the job look easy.

I need a mental Jeep. I'm stuck in some sort of sticky, muddy, mental muck. There's plenty of things I need to do but few I'm really motivated to do right now. I need a tow rope and a tug to get me past this so I can get back to work.

Expect to be Amazed

I grew up out in the country on a gravel road. It was a big deal for me to watch the county road grader come through and level out the road every year or so. It had to pass by at least twice. Sometimes they'd bring out fresh red gravel.  It left sandy, red grit on the cars until the dust finally settled down. We felt like we got a huge advance when they came through with a layer of coarse asphalt. There was no more bouncing in ruts and popping gravel under the tires. Eventually the road was closed just past our driveway when the county decided the bridge at the base of the hill just wasn't worth fixing again. Now I just tell people I grew up out in the country at the end of a dead end road.

 

We lived less than 10 minutes from my elementary school. It was a red brick and concrete block building. The interior walls were painted with what I was sure was government surplus paint. I remember a gloss green that screamed army surplus. There was a huge lilac bush by the tall front steps. I guess it was tucked in and protected from the summer heat. It was the only lilac I remember seeing as a child and the largest I've ever seen. The school had a softball field, a large playground and an open field we could use to work off pent up energy.

 

The 10 minute trip took 30-60 minutes by school bus. One hundred eighty days of the exact same route twice a day can become boring. Sometimes I would read or work on homework. When I was able to get a window seat I'd often give myself a personal challenge.  I'd look to see if I could find something new along the route.  It required close observation of everyday places, things and, sometimes, people. A freshly painted mailbox, a new car, a dog I'd never seen, or a new lawn ornament all scored a successful day's hunt.

I've tried to continue the challenge as I've grown. It's so easy to just pass through the day without appreciating the little marvels and surprises that are there waiting to be discovered. A couple of weeks ago it was the most amazing little maple leaf lying on a sidewalk. Most trees hadn't started getting their fall color but this maple tree was just beginning to turn and drop it's leaves.  This leaf had bright green veins with colors graduating reds and near purple at the edges. It was a work of art.

What a shame it would have been if I'd just passed that little wonder by without taking a minute to appreciate it. We've been gifted with the most amazing world. Even with our carelessness, we've not blotted out the beauty.  We just need to slow down, open our eyes and expect to be amazed.