I have been working out six days a week – three times with Debbie Siebers’ “Slim in 6” and three times with Jillian Michaels’ “Yoga Meltdown”.  On good days, I do it before the kids are up.  On bad days, I get it in somewhere before noon.  I used to say, “I only run when I am caught in the rain” and “Exercise? A lot of good people get hurt that way.”  I’m reformed now.  It happened a few months ago when I decided to start exercising to take good care of my health rather than exercising to lose weight.  Yay!  Go me!  Until this week…

Sharp pains between my ankle and achilles tendon drove me to seek medical care.  Shamefully, I had to admit that it started with a twisted ankle and a pair of high heels, then some lingering pain, and ended with a session of me scootering my Razor A5 Lux Scooter till I just couldn’t go anymore – it was the perfect storm.  With a straight face, the Nurse Practitioner assured me that I had no permanent damage.  The she started by stating the obvious, which she might not have thought was so obvious to me, “You know, you’re not nineteen anymore.” And finished with, “This is going to take more than a week to heal – try 4 to 6 weeks instead.”  Drat!  I just knew that exercising was dangerous!

So this week started out as a bit of a bummer.  I couldn’t exercise, or do my regular housecleaning, or drive to the extra-curriculars (need that right foot/ankle complex to accelerate and brake).  Then I realized the upside: permission to underachieve!  So I decided to stop feeling guilty and enjoy the down days.  Somehow, this was God’s plan for me.  To decompress.  To enjoy homeschooling the kids, snuggled up with them on the couch.  To cook dinner from my frozen stash – Tortilla Soup and Red Beans and Rice.  To let my Sweetie do the dishes.  To skip vacuuming.  To remember that: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17). Especially down days. 🙂

JustAgirl…just like you