At a Crawl

 

I feel like I'm moving at a snail's pace lately. In the ongoing saga with my knee, it hurts 24/7 no matter what I do. I've been going to physical therapy and have made no progress. At my last visit on Friday, the therapist told me they were sending a progress report to the doctor stating that I was not progressing. But then she said, this report won't necessarily be enough to make the doctor order the MRI. When asked if I should continue to come while I wait to hear she said, "No." Ugh!

In the meantime, I've researched other physical therapy exercises to do for this particular problem and have been doing those, on top of what I already was doing. On a positive note, my legs are toning up nicely! :-)

I went for a walk last night which normally is impossible. The key is that I must slow way down, and then I was able to do it and my knee didn't hurt any more than it usually does. I normally walk a 15 minute mile and it took me 30 minutes to go 1/2 mile yesterday. But at least I was moving, was out in the fresh air and enjoying nature.

I commented to Dan as I walked that it only takes about 5-10 minutes of being out in the woods and I can feel my spirits lift and my head clear. Moving slower actually helped me to see things I normally would have missed, like a frog on the ground or a bird camouflaged in the trees.

We live in such a fast-paced society and miss so much because we are on the move constantly. There seems to be no time to sit and chat over a cup of coffee or to sit on the porch and just listen to the sounds around us. We have our heads buried in our phones, laptops and I-pads. 

When my phone goes off, letting me know I have a text, I feel as if I need to answer it immediately. And yet, it's usually at the most inconvenient times and causes my stress to rise. 

There is a book called the Tyranny of the Urgent that talks about this. Our priorities can often get shoved aside because some pressing thing is calling our attention away and yet, so often, that pressing thing really could have waited.

I'm kind of glad that I'm at a crawl right now. It's making me evaluate everything and focus on what's important. It's causing me to appreciate some of the smaller, often unnoticed treasures around me. I certainly don't want to be in pain, but something as simple as slowing down a walk and looking around me has been a blessing.

Slow down today. Take a deep breathe. Shut off your phone and look around. You'll be surprised at what you will notice.