17/10/2025
Here's a photo of me celebrating a victorious one-hour walk (with momentary stops) with a cuppa and really good cheese. Shortly I will need to lie down and meditate.
Not completely pain free but, as long as I rest now, I'm hoping I can enjoy other walks this weekend and slowly come back from this two week pain flare to my new normal (which is a very odd, slow version of my old self).
Since March, I've built up from lying on my back to walking a confident 3.5km and sometimes a 5km. No driving or swimming yet and a sudden "allergy" to alcohol has left me more or less teetotal (a sherry glass of red wine once a week barely counts).
Chronic, undiagnosed pain, especially nerve pain, is tricksy and unpredictable. The only thing that works is pacing, which means staying below 2/10 pain scale. I explain this a lot in case anyone thinks I'm just being flakey.
If pushing through were an option, that would be my go-to method but I've had to learn the hard way that this just leads to intense pain.
It's hard to adjust and there is plenty I miss (drinking alcohol, seeing friends, swimming, driving, long hikes, massaging, being massaged, camping, making and sticking to plans) but there's been plenty I've gained too (meditation, phone calls, an art practice, slow appreciation for small things).
But for now, a one hour walk is a bloody victory! Huzzah!
