Saturday, October 10, 2015

October 10th, 2015 The Best Chance

October 10th, 2015 The Best Chance

I was in bed early last night. Then, about midnight, woke up in excruciating pain. Now, granted--my version of "excruciating" and yours might be two very different things, but for me, it was enough to keep me up until 3am. I finally gave in to the need for pain medication. After falling asleep for the second time, I slept well for another seven hours. I opened my eyes at 10am with my grandson Noah leaning over my face with the biggest smile. Now that's an awesome way to wake up! 

The pain situation was slight this morning and nearly non-existent throughout the rest of the day. Good thing, because we had a fun day planned. I needed to feel great. I really want to say the treatment plan prescribed by my doctor is helping. It didn't seem like it between midnight and 3am, but it did this afternoon.

I've written extensively about my "streams." I have two streams, my life stream and my fundamental elements stream. Keeping these two running parallel is critically important. If life gets tough and my life stream starts interfering with my fundamental elements stream, then I'm in trouble. If I make my fundamental elements stream something so big and burdensome that it interferes with my life stream, then I'm in trouble. Keeping these two streams separate, running parallel, is a balance worth keeping. It's not always easy, that's for sure.

The last two weeks have tested my parallel streams practice. The pain of this temporary-minor medical situation has made me irritable at times, it's kept me from resting enough (on top of my poor sleep habits) and this, coupled with higher job stress/responsibilities and a few really long days, could have very well dipped my life stream into my fundamental elements stream. It's been very close a few times, believe me. But I've kept them apart with solid accountability, support measures and basic recovery practices.

These temporary circumstances have required me to cut way back on workouts for the last two weeks. This, in itself, has been a very tough thing to accept without beating myself up for lack of activity. I've had to extend myself a major level of understanding and compassion in order to not feel like I'm slipping. Because that's what it can feel like. Tightly embracing my fundamental elements during this time has been key in keeping the balance.

My biggest challenges happen when life gets too overwhelming and threatens with instability. My least challenging issue would be my fundamental elements stream reaching up and disturbing my life stream. An example of that would be if I created rules and absolutes that require more time or require things that are simply unnatural for me to do or maintain consistently. I've found a groove that works well and keeps the fundamental elements running in the background while life runs in the foreground. 

Doing what I do each day, gives me the best chance at continued recovery and maintenance. Days like today serve as a nice reminder of how important it is to stay consistent in my daily practices.

I did things today I couldn't have done 50 or 100 pounds ago, never mind 200 pounds or 285 pounds ago. I was off work today. No location broadcasting, no emcee jobs, no dj jobs--just taking care of Noah. We made the most of it! It was a Noah fun-day! Let's look at pictures!

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Top of slide. I'm not sure I could have fit on this slide 50 pounds ago.

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mid-slide

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Bottom of slide

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Just A Swingin'. Getting Noah on the swing with me was a major accomplishment. He has this fear of swings, it seems. But for whatever reason, he overcame it today. He loved swinging!

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Noah on top of car after conquering two different parks. He's adorable! He enjoys sitting on top of the car while I put things in the car or get his car seat ready.

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We picked up mom for dinner. No trip to my hometown would be complete without mom! She loved seeing her great-grandson!

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With Noah at restaurant

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He enjoyed some cheese dip and chips

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With BumbleBee Transformer. Noah was absolutely fascinated by this giant transformer. A local body shop constructed one of these two and a half ton, two story transformers at both of their Stillwater locations. This one was located next door to our restaurant.

My activity level was very high today. Noah kept me running! We're planning on going to a circus tomorrow afternoon. After a long and very active day, he's sleeping sound right now. I'm headed to the pillow optimistic that it'll be a restful night.

My Tweets Today:
























Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for hanging in there and for sharing the struggles! Looks like it has been a super day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. aww... Noah is a doll... a handsome doll!
    Looks like a lot of fun and glad the pain subsided to have such a great day with your grandson!
    :)
    Rosie

    ReplyDelete

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