First of all: Happy Mother's Day!!!
This is, in fact, my 71st blog post since I started writing last summer. A few things have happened in the last year, but thank you to everyone who has stuck with me through this. I can feel the love, even though I haven’t seen many of you in quite some time. Okay, most of you. What with social distancing and friends all over the world and whatnot. I’m sending virtual hugs to all!
I can do hugs again now. They’re different, but that’s fine. Currently, I’m only hugging my husband because of social distancing, but I hope to hug friends, family, and complete strangers who need a hug again in the future. And, yes, I’ll be happy to wear a mask.
Right now I’m very thankful for a lot of things. A big one is that, while some stenographers are struggling during this time, I’ve been as busy as I want to be. I’m taking this weekend mostly off - just a few hours of on-call work to help out someone who needs some time - but it is definitely needed. I am glad to be back to work. Glad to be busy. But ohmigosh! I’m exhausted by the end of a day or a week.
I’m still recovering. I want to just be back to normal, go, go go! But I am constantly having to remind myself: These things take time. Your body has undergone an enormous amount of trauma. It needs time to heal still. It’s just harder to remember that when mostly I’m fine.
I’ve been really good about not exceeding my limits so far, though. I don’t want any setbacks. Am I taking my recovery too slow, perhaps? Maybe. But I’m fine with that. I’d rather be at the back of the pack of runners and still finish the race than be running flat out and then fall over in the middle.
I’m using a running analogy because that’s what I want to aspire to eventually. I used to run. I used to be so fast! Okay, I was 5 when that was happening. But still. I used to enjoy finishing my blistering 8 minute mile - yes, I know that’s not fast, but I have short legs? - and the feeling of accomplishment.
I feel like, without the extra weight up front holding me back, maybe I can run? Again, something I’ll have to start slow and work up to. Am not planning a marathon any time soon. I’ll be taking the same approach to running as I am to recovery. Slow and steady. Do the stuff you need to do every day. That’s physical therapy at the moment. And walking more.
I did at least 2 miles today. I would like to point out that where we live, it’s very hilly. And when I say hilly, I don’t mean rolling hills. I mean the type of hills that are tough to drive a car up in the winter if it’s just snowing, not icy, because they are so steep and just go on forever. My running will probably have to be confined to the short flat stretch between our house and the far stop sign for a while. That’s fine.
So, I’ll finish with today’s wisdom: Some things take a lot of work and a lot of time. I’m thankful that I wrapped my head around this in court reporting school (finally). I needed to get to 225 words per minute. I didn’t have a choice. I’d left my former life in mortgage banking to try this new career. It took me 3 years, but I did it.
And then promptly dropped out of school and started practicing at home. In my defense, I already had a Bachelor’s degree! But I kept practicing every day, and then when I started working, I practiced 7 hours per day while at work until they trusted me enough to go live. And since then, I don’t think I’ve ever had a single day where I don’t add a word to my dictionary or tweak how I write something.
The improvement and striving toward a goal may never end. That’s okay. I think that’s why I’m so busy right now. I am confident in my work, but I try to never assume I know everything or that I can’t get better.
Tomorrow I will do my PT again. I’m thinking I can push my bicep curls up more, but I don’t think I have any weights between 5 and 10 lbs. Maybe do 5 reps at 10? And then 15 more at 5? Perhaps. If not, that’s okay. One day at a time. I got this.