Taking It Slow + #MyPostMonday - Sharing The Week's Best Original Content

Last January, back before Covid-19 was barely even a glitch on the radar, I was walking around the indoor track with some middle school students and as I'm wont to do, started taking on some of the tendencies of the students I was working with. Namely, we were getting competitive kicking a stray pickleball around the course. I was slaying it, pretending it was more like a soccor ball--dribbling it, out-maneuvering the students around me, blocking like a boss---in other words being more of a show-off than a mentor. That's when my foolishness caught up with me because my middle-aged body was not going to put up with my immature shenanigans. Suddenly my knee buckled and I went down like a rock. It was embarrassing, to say the least, and I pulled myself up as quickly and as inconspicuously as possible. I kept walking around the track, but I was in serious pain. I ended up getting sent to the InstaCare and they recommended physical therapy for two weeks. I was OK with that and still wanted to get back to work. I went to work the following day, intending to just go slowly and not push it. But the vice-principal told me that I had to stay home until released from physical therapy. I was home for approximately two weeks and I'm actually glad that I was able to recover at home, because after 36 hours, the pain became intense and I could barely get around.

I was so afraid that I would never be the same again because I had just re-injured an old knee ligament injury, the doctor telling me at the time that at some point I would injure myself severely enough that I'd have to have surgery. I desperately don't want the surgery. The thought of that was really getting me down. But I kept going with the PT and gradually the knee started getting better. It was still hurting 3 months later, but I could walk pretty well, if I braced the knee up. Six months later and I'm doing pretty great. The only thing is that chance of re-injury is really great and the more I re-injure, the greater the chance of surgery becomes. So no more faux pickleball/soccor for me!

Now I'm not quite the swaggering, take-my-health-for-granted gal I once was, but I'm still moving forward with my health goals, my work goals and my hobby aspirations. It's all just a bit more intentional and deliberate. I realize that I can't push off with incredible bursts of unbounded speed, squandering energy on a whim. Everything I do now is something I have put on a top priority list. The unnecessary things have been released.

And so I say good-bye to the youth that I once had, the youth I once thought I had, and the youth I only recently pretended to have. This is me being realistic and at the same time wanting to continue on with my life. There is so much, yet, that I want to do. Only the lack of energy and time will prevent me from realizing those aspirations. And thus my quote of choice below. How do you prioritize your goals and aspirations? Do you have to conserve energy or are you still lucky to have energy to spare?

Today is "My Post Monday!", a curation of my picks of the week's best original content. It's all about posts from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize(Affiliate links welcome)