My personal lesson reminder of the week is this: Respect your limits, even when you feel great. \
Last Thursday I decided to walk to the local playground and back with my kids. I “Google mapped” it so I knew it was only .84 mile to the park entrance. What I failed to check was the distance from the entrance to the actual playground equipment. It’s a very large park, with two entrances. One entrance is close to the playground. The other entrance is on the other side of the park. Guess which entrance we used? Yup, the far one. But no matter, the walk went well, and I felt perfectly fine Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
In case you’re curious, I checked the distance to the actual playground when we got home. We walked 2 miles each way, for a total of 4 miles. I was pretty darned proud of myself!
On Sunday, the kids asked if we could do it again. “Sure!” I said. And, off we went. Again, my energy levels were fine on Monday, although my legs were a bit sore. I felt so great on Monday that I decided to tackle some yard work and Spring planting that I’ve been putting off. I knew I was probably pushing my luck, and should limit my physical activity on Monday, but hey.. I had lots of energy and felt great.
Today, is a whole different story. When I woke up this morning my legs and arms were heavy, like they were made of cement. It got a little better as I got up and got moving, but by 11am I was ready for a nap. I took an hour to lie down, and I’m feeling a little better now. Which is a very good thing, since I have a lot to do yet today. We joined the SCA, and I need to make tunics for two of my kids before Saturday. Plus, we have fighter practice tonight.
I can’t afford to over do it and exhaust myself either, because I’m playing at a local Renaissance festival this weekend.
I have a very difficult time managing my energy. It’s a skill that I simply must learn, but there are so many things I need to do, and want to do on any given day that it is difficult. When I look back at what I had 5 or 6 years ago, I know I’ve made an extraordinary amount of progress. I’ve done what the doctors told me was impossible. I’ve come back from SPMS. Sometimes I have to remind myself to slow down.
