Orbital Velocity

Day 76: On Hold For a Cold, Ten Days and Counting

Today's my tenth day of a nasty cold. I postponed my last check-in and have continued to push it off day after day because I need rest. Near the end of my last entry, I wrote, "Maybe this week will be my week." Needless to say, it wasn't.

I've had to cancel racquetball, and I'm not doing any yoga, pull-ups, etc. I haven't started the cleanse diet that was supposed to begin a week ago. My sleep has been heavily interrupted by coughing. My bullet journal ritual is running at about 50%. I've been keeping up with work, and have only had to cancel a couple of events on my calendar, but my efforts toward Orbital Velocity have pretty much been on hold.

Once this cold is behind me, I will face a test: how quickly can I get back into the good habits on which I've been working so hard? In past years, when my efforts at getting fit and healthy have been less formal, I've definitely been derailed by illness, sometimes failing to ever get back on track. Long vacations have also thrown me out of my rituals. Easier habits creep in, and the momentum I had is lost.

I do have some good news. I have a doctor now, I went to my first-ever annual physical, and it went great. I've been lucky enough to never need to make routine medical appointments. Now that I'm forty-six, it seems like a good time to take my health more seriously. The knee pain I mentioned on Day 6 was the inspiration for making the appointment. In light of chronic knee issues over the course of many years, I wanted advice on how to avoid more serious problems as I age. I had to wait two months to see this particular doctor, but he's my wife's GP, so I already knew I liked him. Plus, his background in osteopathy is a good fit for the kinds of health issues I've faced. His exam of my knees turned up nothing particularly worrisome. He advised me to focus on strengthening my quads, to take strain off of certain ligaments, and to avoid any repetitive twisting motions.

Eight years ago, my cholesterol levels were pretty bad. I made quite a few diet changes, and by the following year my numbers had improved. Following the appointment, I went to the clinic's lab for a blood test, and I was curious to discover whether my cholesterol issue had resurfaced in the intervening years. I'm happy to report that my LDL number was the lowest I've ever had, and my overall numbers looked pretty good. There's still room for improvement, but my diet changes have paid off.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll be back to good enough health to start reintroducing some exercise. I'm looking forward to it, which is a good sign. Having racquetball and check-ins on my calendar helps; thinking about them while sick has kept me mindful that I have good habits to get back to. There's something bigger going on here, too. This project has given me a sense of an overall trajectory, such that this cold just feels like a brief diversion. It has given me a mental framework that will prevent me from simply forgetting to resume exercise. I've written in the past about the question of how one builds an unyielding internal commitment -- not just good habits, but a new way of being that drives you to make smarter decisions and be your best self. I feel like I'm starting to experience that. Whether I am will soon be tested, and -- if so -- how exactly that's happening is something I plan to explore in future entries.