What If Tomorrow Is Too Late?

The doc told me to avoid taking NSAIDs because they haven’t figured out where I am bleeding from and I have mostly done so.

That changed briefly last week because my right hip decided to go on strike. I knew I was going to be in Austin for four days and I got tired of fighting my way through it.

I am pretty sure it was some sort of pinched nerve thing that came from a combination of working out, sitting in an office chair for countless hours and being almost middle aged.

So I popped a few for a couple of days and the pain went away. I figure it reduced the swelling of whatever nerve was aggravated with me.

Then I purchased a 21 Day Open Your Hips video. I had been meaning to do it for a while and I told myself to stop screwing around.

“What if tomorrow is too late” isn’t something I say to myself for fun. I have seen what happens when you wait on some things.

I’ll never forget my dear friend David asking me to grab dinner and my telling him I was jet lagged and asking if we could put it off.

He had a major seizure and though we did get time together, he was never the same.

I started the challenge today and am excited to see where it goes.

Open Your Hips

Tight hips cause all sorts of issues. They alter your body mechanics and can make it more difficult to do certain things.

Ever since October I have been hyper aware of some things and one of them is that my balance isn’t as good as it used to be and I can’t hold a full squat as easily.

So I started balancing on one leg in the shower and working on a variety of stretches. I have seen progress but not the kind I wanted so when I had that day last week of the irritated hip I decided I had enough.

The goal is to get myself to a place where I can use one of the squat toilets you see in pictures of some places in China.

Mind you I don’t really want to use one, but if I can relearn how to maintain that kind of squat I think it will yield multiple benefits.

I can take shoes on and off while standing on one leg but not with the ease I want so that is part of the focus on balance.

I can get up and down from the floor without using my hands but that is not as easy as it once was either.

It is all a long winded way of saying I am preparing for the second half of life. I don’t expect things to get easier when I am 80 but if I build the right body and habits now it will be much easier than if I try to then.

Remember The Audio Posts?

Podcasts are common now but there was a time when it was novel to put your voice online. I used to have fun with those and figured I might try doing some again.

There is a different rhythm to speech and writing. Those who know me say when they read my posts they can hear my voice but if you haven’t heard me speak you’d have no clue.

Maybe this changes your image and or perception of me, maybe it doesn’t. I didn’t post it for that purpose.

I did it because I haven’t tried audio blogging in a while and sometimes it is useful to mix up how you express yourself.

That particular bit was recorded while I sat in my car post workout. I got interrupted a few times so I don’t know that this is smooth but I wasn’t looking for perfection.

The Yoga instructor that is teaching the open your hips class mentioned not to look for perfection and I appreciate that.

I felt a little foolish and self conscious trying to imitate the pose he did on screen. But I also felt hopeful and excited, I can sense the change.

This isn’t something I never could do, this is something my body forgot how to do so I am relearning. When I regain the flexibility I am going to be very happy,

It will offer benefits in every aspect of life. It is important to me because no one can do it for me. No one can gift me this, it is something I have to do for myself.

I am ok with that. I made a promise to myself right before Rosh Hashanah in 2024 that I was going to make some change.

They were things that I had been thinking about, but it got more important after a couple of things happened.

I took a hard look at what I saw and decided it was time to make some adjustments and I did and am still doing it.

Some changes are part of a process that you can’t necessarily rush. The important thing is to keep going, even if you slip up or things don’t feel like they’re moving as fast as you’d like.

So that is what I am doing, always with a focus on doing it sooner because tomorrow might be too late.