Always Keep Fighting

The actor Jared Padalecki, best known for his role as Sam Winchester on the TV show Supernatural, has been quite open and honest with his mental health struggles. His mantra is: Always Keep Fighting. My daughter, who also struggles with her mental health, has this tattooed on her upper arm to remind her to never give up.

I've come to adopt this mantra, as well, for not only my mental health struggles, but my physical health struggles, as well. 

And this week, I refused to give up.

After being down for the count with first a flare and then Covid for two solid, straight weeks, I have taken a two-mile walk every day this week. I took it easy, not pushing myself over what I thought I could handle, and darn if I'm not proud of myself for getting back on track.

I hope to resume my regular workouts this weekend or early next week - treadmill time, plus other exercises on my yoga mat. I wanted to ease myself back into things post-Covid.

Moving my body is so important to me. The physical benefits are self-explanatory, but the mental and emotional benefits are equally valid. But there are limits. I can't push myself too hard or I will end up in a flare and not be able to move for days at a time. Also? I am never not in pain. Every night this week, I've dealt with pain before, during, and after my walks. But I still do it. I know others cannot, and I absolutely respect and honor their choice. We must all do what is best for our bodies.

I also bring this mentality to my writing. I'm querying literary agents right now, and I've received a mixed bag of responses. Some of the rejections have actually been really great and have encouraged me to keep writing. In this, I also refuse to give up, to always keep fighting. I believe in my work and my ability to tell a good story. I know that I will find a literary agent who will be just as excited and passionate about my work as I am!

Always keep fighting. For your health. For your writing. For you.

Covid Finally Came For Me!

 After last week's symposium, I was hit by quite the flare. But when I noticed other symptoms cropping up, I figured I should test myself. And wouldn't you know it: positive for Covid. 

I think I did pretty well evading it for the last three years, and even though it's been like a bad cold, I've had far worse colds, and far worse flares. So all in all, it hasn't been too terribly awful, but it's been miserable nevertheless. I was doing so well on the exercise front, too! That has been probably the most frustrating part about this - all that momentum I had, gone.

I've been doing a lot of resting and trying to stay away from my boyfriend and my daughter. Not easy to do, but we're trying. The boyfriend has been making grocery store runs for me and thankfully, I have enough Diet Pepsi and dark chocolate to see me through.

I've grown rather tired of watching television and laying in bed. Worse, I haven't been able to sink my teeth into a good book. I'm super picky in what I read, and if the writing is terrible, I have a difficult time connecting with the story. If the writing is good and the characters are frustrating me to no end, I'll put the book aside, too. In fact, I had to give up on a book by a big-name author which received rave reviews from numerous people for that very reason: the characters irritated me so much I couldn't stand it any longer.  And honestly, why spend time reading bad books? 

Tonight I had a burst of energy and used it to vacuum and clean up the kitchen a bit. It felt good to be doing something instead of just sitting around. But that burst of energy didn't last long, and now I'm back in bed, exhausted. Sleep doesn't come easily, and it's full of bad dreams and pain. I wake up in pain and can barely stand it. The problem is, I don't know what are Covid symptoms and what are fibromyalgia and ME/CFS symptoms! 

At any rate, I'm trying to be patient through this whole thing. I'm lucky that I'm able to go outside on our patio and enjoy the birds and wildlife. I've also been able to do a bit of writing here and there, so that's something!