Thought for the Day, Friday 13th January 2012 was "Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever."
This got me thinking. Neither statement rings true for me, especially the latter. Here's why.
I recently cancelled my health and fitness club membership. Not because I'm giving up on either health or fitmess, but because I didn't use the facilities much in 2011. I had a series of illnesses, culminating with pleurisy which kept me out of the pool for months. Then I damaged my knee and found that swimming was making things worse. I had physiotherapy and injections and waited for it to recover.
When I deemed it recovered enough, I had a full health MOT and my personal trainer gave me some exercises to do in the gym to strengthen the knee muscles and build strength in the upper body. I managed two weeks in the gym before the virus from Hell returned. I fully intended to return to gym and swim in the New Year but managed to fall down the stairs and damage both knee and ankle again.
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| Lady Violet (Downton Abbey) |
So does this count as quitting? Not at all. When I'm sure that my injuries have healed properly and my health is on a more even keel, I can always become a member again and start building fitness from scratch. Pain may be temporary (for some it's not, it's chronic and ever-present) but it is a signal that something is amiss. To exercise while in pain risks doing even more damage to muscles and ligaments.
So, while I'm in need of a walking stick when out and about (I wish I could carry it off with the same style as Lady Violet.) , and while my sleep is disturbed by the pain in my knee and ankle, I'm temporarily quitting.
