Taking a Break

I am back from eight days at the beach with my husband. While away, I took a break from my blog and even a semi-break from Facebook and email. A total break from the Internet for a whole week would be just short of a miracle in my case.

I was up three pounds yesterday and only up two pounds this morning. Hope to have the other two gone within the week. The strategy that has worked for me for years is to keep added pounds as visitors rather than residents. The longer you let a few pounds stay, the harder they are to get rid of.

I also took a whole week's break from working out last week! I never take a break from exercise. I exercise five to six days a week every week, even when on vacation. But I have been in pain with tendonitis of my rotator cuff for several weeks and chronic pain helped me opt out during my week at the beach. "They say" it's good to sometimes take a break from your workouts and let your body rest. So maybe it was not a bad idea.

I've decided to have my shoulder injected with cortisone. I thought it was getting better one morning (after I managed to sleep on my back all night) but that was a temporary improvement, I guess --  in spite of the anti-inflammatory and ice and PT exercises I'm doing. I don't want to tempt God to further afflict me (because I really hate pain), but I must say that, even in the midst of it, I recognize how beneficial it is for me to personally experience it. When I wake up in the middle of the night hurting, my mind immediately goes to others whom I know are suffering much greater pain than I am (with less complaining). And I have thought about and prayed for others more as a result of my "pain reminder."

My mother-in-law has been suffering with the same shoulder pain in BOTH her shoulders for months. I knew the pain because I had tendonitis of the rotator cuff in my right arm years ago. But now that I am experiencing it again in my left shoulder, it's refreshing my memory of how unpleasant and annoying chronic pain is and how bad it can make you feel. Prior to my refreshed memory, I have reminded Marian she is almost 80 when she was trying to figure out what was causing her shoulder pain. But having the pain again myself is bringing me back to the reality that this is not the kind of pain attributable to aging. It is the pinching of an inflamed tendon. I told John this past week that I feel so guilty for not being more sensitive to Marian's pain. Not that I didn't care, but that I didn't SHOW more concern. I should have insisted on taking her to my PA (who is going to give me an injection this week). I should have helped her get to the bottom of the pain rather than being so quick to chalk it up to arthritis or aging. Perhaps God thought I needed to feel this pain again. Seriously. Not as punishment for insensitivity. If that were the case, we would all be afflicted at all times. But just to get me back in touch with someone else's reality. And also to make me more thankful for the lack of physical pain I have endured in my life. 

My shoulder is hurting right now and sitting at my laptop is probably not helping. I just wanted to check in after my break. I have several restaurant reviews that need to be written this week from my recent trip to Panama City Beach, as my shoulder permits.

I am reading Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas. The book is SO good. Metaxas is a great writer. There have been no slow spots and I'm not even to the most compelling parts of the story. I also began a Beth Moore Bible Study on Revelation yesterday. So I will probably feel compelled to share some thoughts and quotes in the near future.