Crash & Burn, and the bounceback!
I’ve been working out for two weeks now on a regular basis, and have noticed a dramatic increase in my energy level. One of my favorite “workouts” is what I call “Sneak Exercise.” We’ve been trying to give our car a rest to save gas money, and so have been walking or taking the bus as much as humanly possible. It’s working out well.
Yesterday, we met a friend for breakfast out, then hit Costco for gas and a car wash, and went to the bank and wandered through West Seattle Summer Fest for a couple of hours.
When we got home, I left Luis to clean the house, and I went grocery shopping… where I saved a whopping $132 by using coupons (it was a huge shopping, and the bill even after all those coupons was $291! Still I saved 31% !) I got us all the “stock up” stuff. I’m not kidding when I say the cart couldn’t hold one more item when I got to the front. I walked the grocery store for 2 hours.
After putting away all the groceries, we returned to Summer Fest and met up with a number of friends. Dinner with Jan and then the “Street Dance” where we hung out in the beer garden and did a little dancing. Long story short, I did about 4 hours of walking yesterday, all told.
At 9:30, I was done. Not just done, but DONE. Luis went and found me a chair in the beer garden at around 8:30 or 9, and I spent the last while sitting because my back had entirely given out. Finally at 9:30 it was time to go home while I still had the energy to walk to the car.
My point in telling this whole story is to contrast it with how I was even a month ago. A month ago, I would have never made it through the two hours at the grocery store, much less put away the groceries and then gone out afterward. And I would have been down for the count for a week afterward. Yes, I still crashed because I pushed a little too hard, but after a good, full night’s sleep I was up and ready to get going on another walk today.
I now have the ability to be out and about in the world, have fun, get exercise in my day, and even when I crash I can bounce back.
This is truly an amazing change.
