Yesterday, I picked up limbs and sticks from the yard both at home and at the church, cut grass in both places, cleaned the church, changed lights, and a bunch of other things that needed to be done. In the midst of this, my son and I went and picked up a washing machine and took it to be checked out. I also had an issue with my lawn tractor, where it was not wanting to come out of gear and therefore would not roll, nor start. Without thinking, I bent over and grabbed the frame of the tractor and picked one end of it and dragged it out of the shed. My son was standing near by and said, "you are gonna hurt yourself." Too late. I was fine right then, but last night, my chest started aching. I had not really given any thought to what I'd done all day, and I told Libby that it felt like I'd strained a muscle in my chest or something. Of course, she was concerned that it was my heart, which I assured her that it was not. It got to hurting so bad that when I coughed, it felt like my chest was exploding. I did not sleep well, because it hurt like crazy. I still did not even give thought to what I'd done and kept wondering what I could have possibly done.
So, today I wake up to very sore chest muscles, neck, arms and legs. Crud, my hands even hurt. It was still a couple of hours to I really gave thought to what I'd done yesterday. I told Libby and Daniel that I guess I forget that I'm 53, not 33. Daniel kind of laughed, and I told him that I'm sure it was hard for him to understand, but that in my mind, I don't stop and think that I'm getting older. My mind is young and raring to go and just jumps out there and does things with youthful impulsiveness. It's my body that breaks the news to me... "Hello, dude... you're not a kid any more!" It's a harsh reality. Physically, the strength and determination may still be there, but the body does not respond the same way to physical exertion at 53 that it did twenty years ago.
My mind is challenging me today to get up, get going and have fun... but my minds says, "Slow it down big boy, before you hurt yourself bad."
Think I will listen to my body.
2 comments:
You should watch Bill Cosby at 50 routine. It it hilarious. He says you should listen to your own body.
At 64 I realize that I am not in my 20's or 30's anymore as my body tells me, but my mind is still in the 30's. We all learn to slow down a bit as our body will tell us and we need to listen.
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