Learning to be a snail...for a while...

So I was going to call this post "Learning to be a couch potatoe." But then I thought, well hang on -- I don't plan on being a couch potatoe for ever. Sure, much of my time lately has been spent on the couch or in bed, watching TV or reading a book. But I don't plan on making a permanent groove in this chair and growing sprouts.

Instead, I'll learn to be a snail. If only for a while. Because you know that old joke:

What did the snail say to the other snail as it drove by?

Look at that S-car go!


The thing about snails is, as opposed to potatoes, they may be slow but eventually they get to where they want to go, with dogged determination.

As a fairly active person, working out and running up to five or six times a week (if not more), it's been frustrating having to slow down since my operation. The doctor had recommended that I take it easy for six weeks, but being the active type-A woman that I am, I told myself that wouldn't apply to me.

Only days after my surgery, I took to going out one or two times a day, taking my mom (who's been here on a visit to help me with my recovery) around Halifax to make sure she wasn't bored. We went to Chez Tess for brunch one day (I could only eat half of my crepes Benny...I seem to have a teeny appetite these days), and walked up and down Spring Garden Road browsing through stores. Another day we bought geraniums for the front porch, and bird seed for the feeder on the back porch.

Sure, my stomach usually felt like it had been split open after only an hour of being out and about, and I couldn't walk further than a block, but I told myself that it was important to keep active if I ever want to run another race.

Until two days ago, when I started feeling absolutely drained with only the slightest effort.

"You've been doing too much," my mom and hubby admonished. "You have to slow down and let your body start to heal."

Resistance was futile, in any case, because by that time I felt like a big cotton-headed sloth and couldn't do much to rouse myself from my torpor.

I've been taking it a lot slower since then, but even today, after folding laundry (which hubby had washed for me, thankfully) and then putting it away, I was finished for the day. In fact I've only just now woken from an afternoon nap. I've been napping lots lately.

I don't mean this to be a woe-is-me post, by any means. Instead, I hope it's a reminder to cherish your health and active lifestyle. Because although being a couch potatoe (sorry, snail) is a great way to catch up on reality TV and morning talk shows, it doesn't give you an iota of the sense of accomplishment and pride you get when you just came back from that amazing run or finished a really tough Body Pump class, let alone crossing the finish line after months of training. And there's definitely no rush of adrenaline surging through your body, even if you are surfing the TV waves.

Then again, there is something to be said for balance. I have caught up on a lot of my reading, which I hope I can maintain once I'm back on the road again.

I may feel tired now, but I know that's just my body healing. With every day, I'll start getting stronger and stronger. Pretty soon I'll be calling out to my hubby that I'm lacing on my shoes and heading out for a run.

I can't wait!

~ HRG