So how’m I doing in my quest to re-invent my life, follow my evolving Blisses and create the life I really, really want?
Big news: I’m home!
Just a week ago I was quite dependent on the kindness of family, but today I’m back, ready to tackle the enormous piles of work that have been lying fallow. (And ironically, suddenly missing my week of “carefree convalescence.” The grass is always greener. Even my own.)
In my great naivete, I had expected to be home from surgery on Monday (ha!) and buzz through my projects like the Tasmanian Devil through the weekend, so spending the entire week convalescing was something of a disappointment.
Kinda excruciating, really. After all:
I didn’t get interviews edited for the Thriving Artists Project.
I didn’t get blog posts written for 365 Days of Genius (launching in—ack!—40 days! Ack!)
I didn’t get hours and hours of ukulele practice in.
I didn’t write any new songs.
I didn’t write any lessons for my Guide to Happiness E-course.
No.
However, it turns out that a week of full-time convalescing has its own gifts. It’s just a matter of adjusting expectations to appreciate them.
Here’s some stuff I learned/figured out/accomplished this week:
Heating Vent
After a week of freezing my butt off in my parents’ guest room, my Biggest Fan & Roadie noticed on Friday night that the heating vent was closed. !!!
Doh!
Needless to say, my last two nights there were significantly more comfortable.
Extra Blanket
Last night, or maybe Friday, I also figured out that I could cover my right leg (the one being bent and straightened in the Continuous Passive Motion machine all night) with its own blanket. That way the rest of me stays warm when the CPM bends my knee and creates a big air pocket.
Again, doh!
The fact that this took me an entire week to figure out really makes me question the accuracy of that much-vaunted IQ test they gave me back in 2nd grade that established me as officially “really smart.” Maybe the tester was on drugs.
Or maybe I can just blame it on the pain meds (I just won’t mention that I’ve only been on Tylenol for days).
An Actual, Real, Honest-to-Goodness Resting Moment
Perhaps my biggest accomplishment all week was yesterday, when I spent an hour just sitting on the sofa listening to This American Life on the radio and knitting.
Okay, I was knitting, and my leg was in the CPM, so I was still sorta multi-tasking, but the fact that I was knitting, as opposed to my usual M.O. of attempting to do something at least mildly work-related while listening to the radio was significant.
First of all, it meant I actually heard This American Life.
This is rare.
And even more significant, I was actually taking a real chunk of Chill Time! Yay me!
I even dozed for a bit on the couch after TAL was over (sleep deprivation from being woken up by pain having left me in a permanently nap-craving state).
Chill Time is nice! Maybe I can work on creating more of it…
Bending By Degrees
The CPM machine is intended to gradually increase my range of motion, and yesterday I got the CPM machine up to 90°! (Though after several hours in the brace yesterday I had to set it back down to 80° when I went to sleep, and that only after working up to it.)
My doctor said to aim for 5 to 10 degrees improvement per day, so of course, me being the overachiever that I am, I latched onto 10 degrees per day as my personal goal. At that rate I “should” have gotten to the max goal of 110° by Friday (or yesterday, if we count last Saturday as Day 1).
Naturally, then, I feel behind.
Underachiever! Oh no!
But in fact, when I saw the doctor for my follow-up visit on Thursday he said I was way ahead of the curve, so I guess I’m probably still fine.
As if it’s a race, anyway. Just me being impatient to get my body back.
As a yogini who’s used to being a less-green version of Gumby, it’s very weird having a knee that won’t bend as far as I’m used to. The pain is, well, a pain, but the stiffness is just weird. I’m very eager to get my range of motion back, though I know it will take time.
Patience…
Bathing
Speaking of range of motion, it’s now good enough that I can actually sit on the bath bench and get my leg in the bathtub, foot on the floor, rather than having to rest it on the side of the tub.
Progress!
And can I just take a moment to express my extreme gratitude to the person who invented the telephone shower head? I have no idea who you are, and if you’re alive or dead, but seriously, thank you.
Walking
I am walking! Without crutches! Without even one crutch!
Around the house, that is—not in public, where the crutches serve the very crucial function of not just helping me keep my balance, but of making it very obvious to those around me that I’m a gimp, and they should get the hell out of my way. (Kinda too bad I’m not flying anywhere over the next 5 weeks, because the crutches would get me special treatment on the airlines, too…)
Just yesterday morning I was hobbling around with one crutch, but by last night I was able to get around the house relatively comfortably without the aid of my arms!
This is huge, people.
My right knee is safely ensconced in an enormous Robo-Cop brace (one week down; five weeks to go), which makes my gait very zombie-like, but hell, I’ve got both hands free!
This means I can function in a way that more closely resembles my regular, fully-functional self, and makes me very happy.
Writing
Though I didn’t meet my ridiculous fantasy goal of one (or oh, two, or three) blog posts a day (I must’ve been on drugs a lot stronger than my pain meds to think that was possible), I still managed to get four posts done and posted this week (including a guest post for Customer Love, complete with mini video clip of my canine nursemaid, Chloe).
And don’t miss my interview with LaVonne Ellis, where we talked about:
- How deadlines help fight procrastination.
- The usefulness of fear as motivation.
- My Sandbox Sessions and accountability.
- How Customer Love helps us take the focus off ourselves.
- My exciting plans to inspire creatives to take their art more seriously.
- Why LaVonne and I are both Terry Gross groupies.
Onward ho!
I even got out to see some live music, Thursday (where I sang a couple of songs with the band), Friday and Saturday. Hot dang!
All in all, I’ve made huge progress this week, all things considered, just not necessarily the progress I was most eager to make. Sometimes, though, the Universe forces your hand, and you’ve got to take time out to deal with other stuff.
Hopefully now the Universe will let me get back to the Thriving Artists Project and all my other deadlines, ’cause they’re looming fast and furious! (Did I mention that my goal is to do a pre-launch for the Thriving Artists Project done by the end of this month? That means if you want in on the pre-launch [with super-special pricing, let it be noted], you’ll want to sign up now.)
And now that I think of it, my experience this week is really just a more dramatic example of the way a typical week goes. As John Lennon famously said,
Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.
Small or large, ain’t that the way it is?
So: moving forward, let’s see if I can just enjoy and appreciate all the accomplishments, and maybe not focus so much on what I didn’t manage to do.
What do you think? Wanna join me?
Have a great week!
