I wear a step
counter every day. The purpose of this little device is to remind me not to
spend my entire day sitting on my butt in front of my computer.
That duel nature
of mine – anal and completely sanguine – plays against me more often than not.
It means that while I have a detailed plan and schedule on any given day, I'm
capable of ignoring same and going off into my own little realm of
silliness.
Wasting time
doesn't pay the bills, as my mother would say.
Unfortunately
I've shown a real knack for wasting time. The step counter makes a bit of a
sound every time I adjust my position in my chair, reminding me that I have to
get up and move around. I have to stop wasting time and start
moving.
Ideally, walking
is the best exercise there is. But as many of you know, walking isn't something
I do very well any more. I can walk some. Oh, not the brisk strides the health
gurus promote. But at this point in my life, I figure any steps I take are
better than no steps at all.
And I know that
if I don't take these steps every day, very soon I won't be able walk,
period.
I don't waste
time thinking of what might have been; that smacks of self pity. No, I'm not
perfect. Yes, I do have tiny bouts of that malaise from time to time. But my
pity parties are private affairs, by invitation only—and so far, I haven't
invited anyone to join me.
Osteoarthritis
is a disease that has good days and bad days, but will never be gone. On good
days I can manage anywhere from 6000 to 8000 steps. I've even hit 10K a few
times – and in case you were wondering, that is the number of steps that most
healthy adults should be taking every day: ten thousand steps.
On bad days, I'm
lucky to hit 3000. Thankfully, unless the weather sabotages me, I don't have
many really bad days.
I'm not telling
you all this to get you to feel sorry for me. I don't need or want anyone's pity
or even sympathy. I'm telling you this to let you know that everyone has
challenges in their lives. We all do, and so we are none of us really alone.
Life is hard and often unfair – but it hard and often unfair for
everyone.
If you see
someone who appears to be living a life of perfection, for whom nothing seems to
go wrong ever, may I suggest you take a moment to complement them on
their acting abilities.
I used to swim
every day until my body developed certain conditions that made that not a very
good idea. I think we've found and fixed the problem, and I'm looking forward,
in a couple of weeks, to renewing my pool membership. I'm going to be less
aggressive than I was – swimming every day was difficult and too high a goal.
I'll aim for three times a week and see how that goes.
I'm very
fortunate that I can do that; I'm very lucky that there is a facility near
enough and the cost is reasonable enough that I can manage to do it. I'm very
fortunate that I can do a lot of things to make life easier for myself. I spend
time every day focusing on how very fortunate I am, and I do count the blessings
in my life, every single day.
I do that,
because being grateful makes me feel good inside. Being kind to others, and
lifting people up instead of bringing them down, are in reality extremely
selfish actions and ones I indulge in on a regular basis.
They fill my
heart, lift my spirits, and cheer my soul. Nothing feels better,
and nothing else can give me that kind of return on
investment.
Love,
The only dream I've ever had was to be a published author. It was a dream formed in childhood, and held on to through the business of growing up. Life intruded, as life does, and my dream was put on hold. But now, through hard work, faith, and luck dream has evolved into reality.
Romance is a wonderful genre that accommodates every other. Comedy, mystery, paranormal, suspense, or science fiction, romance embraces them all. Erotic romance gives all of that, and so much more.
For readers who want all the best traditional romance has to offer – great characters, compelling stories and a happy ending – and who crave that extra bit of heat – I invite you to read one of my novels and let me know what you think!
No comments:
Post a Comment