Hit the Ground Running

-
We have made it to August - and it has been a hot summer. Forests are burning in Northern Ontario, communities are on alert for evacuation. It is difficult to imagine down here, where we dwell in the smog and humidity.

My mind feels smoggy this week. The aftermath of the gathering for my sister, the intense activity of painting the majority of our house in four weeks. The sadness that comes when things end.

The year to date has been a flurry of big tasks. Now the activity has stopped, and I find myself  annoyed and impatient. I am suddenly irritable and very terse. I have had to walk a lot this week.

Physically, I am doing pretty well. I am maintaining my core strength I earned carrying 18 lbs across Portugal and Spain. I am walking at least 20 km a week, and have introduced Yoga to help regain some of the flexibility I know I have lost.

Desk jobs are the worst for your body. Many workplaces take into consideration that sitting for 8 hours a day is terrible for your core, for your insides, for your brain. My workplace, sadly, has not. Just before I left for Portugal I moved a box in my office with my foot and felt something give way in my bladder. Just a little bit.

I blame inactivity.

March became a panic of Kegels. I had to strengthen my pelvic floor - fast - because I had already purchased my ticket to Portugal, and it wasn't like anything was falling out of me, just a pressure that had not been there before. Perhaps I have only postponed the inevitable, but for now, I have turned back time just a bit.

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 7, 2018 at 6:09 AM

    you have had so much going on the last while it must be a shock to suddenly be at loose ends, the up coming trip sounds very exciting and I admire your physical strength! Walking helps me to calm down too,

    ReplyDelete
  2. Debra She Who SeeksAugust 10, 2018 at 8:33 PM

    Good luck with the job search and I hope you find something that is perfect for you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Debra She Who SeeksAugust 10, 2018 at 8:33 PM

    Good luck with the job search and I hope you find something that is perfect for you!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Things my Mother Didn't Tell Me : Vanishing Eyebrows

-
Lately as I age [gracefully] I wonder about all the things that happen to us with little or no notice, that the women of old never talked about. I was going to write about my eyebrows, and then decided not to - but on Facebook a friend posted about her own thinning brows - which caused many amusing comments to follow. It is crazy what people do to their brows. I remember my eyebrows, which were thick and dark when I was very young - the eyebrows I spent hours and hours plucking out - and how some while ago they seemed to become less striking and a little anemic. Eyebrows draw eyes to our face. Nature put them there to attract mates - much like dark bushy pubic hair - which might I add is also suffering from a bit of a recession . It is like nature is saying : You are returning to the childlike state - hairless and doughy. My mother did not explain to me as a young woman that I should revel in my hairiness, the women from her generation whispered the word 'menopause' in
Read more

Yearning for Simplicity, or Escape?

-
In Portugal I walked through tiny villages where the women still gathered to wash clothes in a communal wash basin filled with rain water. Chickens and goats lived within walled gardens, roosters calling as I walked through village after village. Everywhere clothes were out to dry - on balconies, on lines suspended out of windows, on fences, in breezeways and on front porches. Laundry is not treated as a back-yard activity. Hydro is precious, and in every albergue I stayed in we were encouraged to air-dry our clothes, even if a dryer was available. I know I have romantic ideals on simple living. I know also that I want to taste the life I have never lived - out of town, with a few chickens and a goat. I dream of this life where I can return to the tasks I remember, maybe from my own life, maybe from a past life. City living - urban existence - it can wear you down. Portugal left me yearning for simplicity that I can attain. Some life-changes are pending. Last week I was not f
Read more

An Instant

-
Life changes hard and fast - especially where the goddess is concerned. Husband accepted an offer on Tuesday, gave notice on Wednesday and I was dismissed from the company in a whirlwind of retaliation. Good changes are in motion. Even when you expect dismissal, and are prepared physically with bags packed and desk clean of all elements of me, the personal rejection still bites. I was raised with old fashioned parents and one of the absolute worst things to happen to a person is to be fired. Now this is hogwash, I know, but there is a certain amount of shame that descended and I've  been walking it out, on the trails. In 24 hours I went from hurt, to sadness, to anger to shame - and the little bit of shame that is left is that I wasted so much of my precious life and time working there. But that too is fading. This has happened in a time where I am toe-dipping into minimalism, and setting aside things that I do not need and do not use, or wear. I think my job was not serv
Read more