Today after taking a week off from doing DDPY Bedflex, I dove back in followed by the physical therapy stretches to offset any tightness in my pelvic floor muscles. It felt good to do it again but I will admit I did cry again a little when doing one of the exercises. The exercise was to hold your elbow and stretch your arm across your body which is not quite like the pic to the right but you get the idea.
Well, when I got a hold of my elbow and felt the arm around the area, I realized again how much muscle I have lost in recent months due to deconditioning. I have never been skinny in that area. My arms while they were never really muscular or defined like a wrestler or an Olympic athlete, I did have some fat to hold onto unlike now. I mean I already knew I had lost muscle, but to feel it and then see it in my arms and legs was a bit jarring. I have mentioned before I have a long road ahead of me, however if we are being honest, deep down inside, I figured I’d be packing on some weight and muscle even just a little bit by the end of December. After seeing this I have to be realistic. Even if I’m positive I will get better, which I am, my road is longer than my over eager self thought. Packing on muscle takes time normally anyway, but to get where I want to be, if I do it the right way, I see it happening in another year or maybe more. It’s all about putting one foot in front of the other. Taking things one day a time and not putting soo much pressure on myself to get better faster which I tend to do. After all, I was able to go to Comic Con because I took things slowly and did things the right way so I would be able to walk without a walker or a cane.
While doing a few minutes of stretching daily, which will be including the physical therapy exercises for the pelvic floor and my bad arm, diving into DDPY every day like I did over a week ago is probably not the best for me right now. Instead of doing Bedflex every day, I will try to do them and take breaks which is how the program is set up anyway. Now don’t get my wrong, I believe we all must push ourselves at times, but there are also times where we have to give ourselves some grace and take it easy.
I also think that documenting my progress not only digitally as I am here, but physically in a notebook, so I can see what I have done and add to that the progress I have made. For example, today I went up the stairs to get groceries and once again I was able to make it to the top without stopping and when I went down the stairs I almost zoomed down as I once did. This is progress. This is a win for me! This is something to cheer about!!!
As I keep saying you should celebrate the small wins, and while I have done that, I recently wanted to speed things up a little bit to get to my goal faster. However, this is how I’ve been repeatedly sidelined. Granted I had no idea my body was in state of deconditioning, but knowing now, is all the more reason to buckle down and be firm with that Ylia who wants to go go go and embrace the chill side and be grateful for how far I have come, which can be very empowering and motivating.
In this month of Thanksgiving I am grateful for how far I have come, and all the work I have put in to get where I am. I’m also grateful to my wellness coach Yoda Mary who has been essential in helping me along the way these past 2 1/2 months and teaching me the tools I need to navigate through life’s storms.
I don’t know what else lies ahead, there has been soo much so far, but I will as John Cena always say “NEVER GIVE UP”.
Until tomorrow my phoenixes!!! Keep Going!!!!
Mind Body Synergylia 