1st of 3 BIG EVENTS POST – The fall

1st of 3 BIG EVENTS POST – The fall

Sorry for my lack of personal posts. I have had a lot going on - 3 big events. Listing one post a day so it’s not a huge long post, and each has a lesson.

NUMBER 1.  About 6 months ago I fractured my foot by a freak trip up a curb. To someone who walked 15-20,000 steps a day, it was a big deal. I had 2 weeks pretty much in bed, and was just about able to walk in a support boot and crutches, but no more then 4 blocks at a time.

I had several NHS appointments to see how badly I had fractured the tendon and the nerve.  It was an experience to actually get to hear my nerve grow!! They put an acupuncture needle in your leg, and you can actually hear the nerve grow (silence means it is a normal nerve).  So apparently it will take another month for the nerve to head down my leg to my big toe. At least I am now on the mend and am so thankful to Bhavini and Aiden, from Bodies Under Construction, for their amazing physio skills to helping me with rehab.  I am now almost back to 100% and for the first time today – I managed to run for 6 minutes!  YEAH!!

However, the hardest part of the fracture was not the physical pain, it was the mental depression.  Not being able to get outside for exercise, do my normal routine, and see clients really took a toll on my mental wellbeing.  I felt so down, and even though I could do work over Skype and some social media, not getting out and being able to exercise began to make me feel lonely and depressed.  I knew I had to take action mentally to get me into a better state.  

I began to break down the day into activities such as 30 minutes just doing gentle stretching, 30 minutes bath (including massaging my foot), 30 minutes reading positive books (like Laws of Attraction), a few hours work, 1 hour watching feel good YouTube clips about “spending it forward” and “acts of kindness”, 45 minutes eating a healthy lunch slowly and watching the news, watching a funny or classic movie, and ending the day again with gentle stretching with a scented candle - of course.  It started to help vs. being frustrated and depressed.  Once I had a plan, I started to feel better.

I read the book Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.  It was ironic as the book is about a lonely woman.  The author, Gail Honeyman, wrote the book after reading a newspaper story about a woman in her 30’s that never saw people from the time she left work on Friday night until Monday morning.   We only think of the elderly as suffering from isolation and loneliness.  You need to make a plan if you are living with depression, fear, loneliness, anxiety, etc.  Little steps will lead to bigger ones and slowly feeling better and better and better. 

The other lovely lesson I learnt was to try the “acts of kindness” for myself to others.  I went to Sainsbury’s, bought a dozen yellow roses, and passed them out on my way home. Every one of the 12 people I gave a rose to brightened their day and mine!  One man even said, “I feel like I have just been knighted”.  Also one woman I gave a rose to was so thankful and happy that the women at the table next to her clapped, so I gave one to her too, and those 2 women I am sure were still talking to each other long after I left.

So don’t let things get you down – get a plan.