Day 341- No Absolutes

Short post today. I cut my finger a few days back, but the giant bandage makes typing more of an effort, and I've got an article to finish today, so YOU get the short end of the stick. 

Sorry. 

Yesterday, I bought some shoes at Wal-Mart. Shoes I would've previously considered "old lady" shoes and turned my nose up at. Shoes that are light, FLAT and flexible. Something Patty Duke would wear with pedal pushers. These:

Total bill? $25 for summer footwear wardrobe.

Up until last year, there's no chance I would've worn these things. Absolutely not! 

Now I know the importance of healthy feet, the right footwear, and as I learn every year I grow older: There are no absolutes. 

And that's okay. 

Open, 
Dani

Day 340-When the Pain Comes In, Walk It Out

Seventeen years ago, I had my first problems with debilitating back pain. It was ridiculous because I was so young, but bound to happen considering what led up to it:

High stress job, no wellness program whatsoever with no clue about how my body machine worked, and spending 10 hours a day in Danskos. Which, at the time, I thought of as a healthy shoe. But comfortable doesn't always equal healthy. 

After the flare up that landed me in bed, I drugged up, which didn't work, then finally agreed to go to a chiropractor. He was a gentle one, not a bone cracker, and he released me from the immediate spasms. I was still sore and scared, but it felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water on the raging fire in my body and cut tension wires that had me tangled up. 

As he helped me off his table, he said,"Now, go out walking. A lot."

For someone who hadn't moved in weeks due to pain, this seemed the most counter-intuitive thing I could possibly do. I nodded agreement and thought "Not!"

Fortunately for me, The Huz (who was The Boyfriend) makes me do things that I'm supposed to, so he drove me to a place that he could walk me slowly along like an infirm old lady.

And you know what? Things started to feel better that day. But I didn't continue a daily regimen, so every once in a while, that pain flared back up over the years. A constant, cranky companion who is always lurking in the bushes outside my home, waiting to barge in on me at the weirdest times.

Have I had any during this 340 days of walking? 

What do you think?

Here's a super short report discussing a study about this very same thing:

Walk For Back Pain

And, 340 days? What the? That means 16 days left in WalkTheYear. Whoa. 

Ta-ta, 
Dani

Day 339-The Comfort Zone

Are you one of those people that is really good at being uncomfortable? 

I'm not. 

I've been wearing Birkenstocks since I was 14, and some of my earliest memories are of hating the itchy green pantsuit my mom had me wear for some Sears portrait when I was three. 

I LOVE being comfortable. Which is why whenever I have to "dress up", I get panicky. Rarely can I find, and then afford, fantastically comfy fancy-pants clothes. 

Call me self-indulgent, but comfort is one of my priorities. Not emotional comfort. I can handle tough situations easily enough, I suppose. No, it's physical comfort I cherish more.

Which is why Restorative Exercise fits me like a fleece mitten. 

Comfy shoes, comfy in your standing postures, learning to be comfy in basic human positions that most of us modern folk couldn't get in and then stay in unless someone was holding a gun to our heads--the full squat, for example. 

It's all about being comfy in your body system. Sometimes, we get so used to how we are feeling that we forget what it felt like to be any other way. We squeeze into shoes that distort our musculo-skeletal & nervous system and call them "comfortable", when we really mean "I can tolerate these, they look hot!"

The other day, someone said to me "You are so CUTE in your Chuck Taylor sneakers! I just love that!"

Me, too. Cute AND comfy rules.

The other day, my 8-year old asked me what a corset was. When I explained it , she screwed up her face and said, "OW! That's not any fun! WHY would you do that?"

"To look like your waist is tiny, I suppose," I answered. 

"Seems dumb," she shrugged.

Sure does. 

Take care of yourself, 
Dani