Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Lacking Motivation

It's Christmas and I'm feeling anything but right now. I'm in a "blah" mood and I know part of the reason is that I'm lacking motivation to workout. 

There are a million and one excuses...I'll only name two. You're welcome.

1. Shoulder surgery recovery.  I know this is a big one and you guys are all going to tell me to cut myself some slack. And I know that I need to. But when you are down and out and depressed, it's difficult to just not blame yourself. My recovery is going well. I did ask the doctor if I could run and he said I could try and see how I felt. I've run 4 times in the past 2 weeks for about 3 miles each time. Usually my shoulder gets a bit sore after about 1 mile. I have been going slow and walking when I need to. But I don't want to go out there (my only positive is that I can run and look at the Christmas lights). I'm tired, I'm achy, I'm slow.

2. Weight gain. Due to recovering from shoulder surgery and my general lack of motivation, there has been an obvious weight gain. And with the weight gain, it's harder to run. Joints hurt and I'm tired. I feel sluggish when running or just sitting at home. It's VERY easy to become a slug when you fall out of your routine. And that's where I'm at right now.
Any ideas how to get motivation back? Just do it? It doesn't help that certain things in my own person life can get me a little down but in all reality, life is fine. It's just more excuses. Tired. No time. Sore. Crabby. Blah, blah, blah.

I'm so sorry for my down and depressing post. I feel as though I want to be honest on my blog and this is my honesty. Working out has always been a stress reliever for me so not working out is definitely not helping my mood. I'm happy after a good, sweaty workout.

There are things I want to accomplish in 2016 and 2017, so I need to get this rear in gear!!  Thanks for letting me vent and any opinions or suggestions are completely welcome!

Hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year!!  I promise to be more cheerful and happy when I see you in 2016!!

Friday, December 11, 2015

One Month Post-Surgery

Happy December!!  Just a quick update to let you all know I'm doing well after having shoulder surgery on November 12th.

Just a reminder, I first injured my shoulder while running on a dirt trail in July 2012. I tripped over something (tree root, rock...not sure) and landed on my shoulder and dislocated it. Since then, I've dislocated about 15 times.

The surgery went well. The doctor just needed to tighten up the capsule surrounding the shoulder joint. Nothing was torn. It also has nothing to do with my rotator cuff, which is a common question I get.

I was expecting the worst going into surgery. And then I expected it to be even worse than that. It's the way my medical stuff has been going this year. Pain and more pain. So I was very relieved that it actually wasn't as bad as I thought. Sure, I was on my pain meds, but it was still better than I thought. I'm no longer taking pain meds and haven't for a couple weeks. I was in a sling until this past Monday (so 3 1/2 weeks) but was able to take it off as of Monday. I am working on range of motion and a bit of strength (no weights). I have 2 exercises right now and have been doing them 3 times a day every day since I could start doing them. This week after seeing the doctor, I realized I can push it a bit more than I have been so I've really been getting my arm up there, pushing past a small amount of pain and tightness. It's ok, I can do that. It's allowed. :)  But only on the 2 movements.

Today has been a slight milestone. I'm pretty proud of myself. These things might seem little to you but they are huge to me! I was able to "kind of" straighten the front of my hair today for the first time since surgery. I've been a complete mess this past month! I can't even brush my hair with my right arm. I've also moved the mouse back over to my right side at work instead of using my left. I've also been eating today with my right arm. These are all things I have not been able to do for 1 month. I'm not doing them perfectly. But I'm doing them.

Sleeping in a recliner is still happening and that's depressing. I've tried sleeping in the bed a few times but it's so uncomfortable, I end up moving to the chair at some point. I can't wait to sleep comfortably in the bed.  But I can fully dress myself now, which I wasn't able to do before.

Anyway, it's the little things, right? I've gotten in some milestones. I've been starting to (sometimes) feel a bit more normal. It's going to be several months before things really feel better. But I'm happy with where I am after 1 month. I've had some wonderful support helping me through it all!

Have a great holiday if I don't get back here before then!