Brain versus Balance

Pain, food, medication, exercise. What a round robin that is. I have pain, I eat or I take medicine. I exercise, I have pain. I eat, sometimes I have pain. I take medicine, I have side effects. Once again, balance is the key, and I'm not so good at balance. I never have been.

One of my friends says that I am "all or nothing". When you have good days and bad days, it's easy to be that way. On the good days, you try to do everything that's been postponed from the bad days and some of the fun things in life. On the bad days, you do nothing unless you are goaded into action. Occasionally, you will go all out on a bad day just to show who's boss.

Sometimes bad days are precipitated by one of the four things above - pain, food, medication, or exercise. Sometimes exercise makes me feel better; sometimes medicine makes me feel better; food almost always makes me feel better. Bad days can become good days because of my use of the three.

On the other hand, good days can become bad days for the same reasons. I eat too much or the wrong things. I take medicine when what I need is exercise. Ah, it's balance. Darn it.

But, I think I have a short circuit somewhere in my brain about balance. I try to eat several small meals a day, and I buy things that I can eat easily and that I like. Some mid-mornings, though, I look at that stuff and just go "yech". Then I go next door and get a sausage biscuit and drink a real Coke. That can make bad into good or good into bad or do nothing.

I promise myself that I'm going to walk on the treadmill at least 10 minutes each day. Well, I haven't been on the treadmill but three times in June. My brain argues that I'm not breathing well; so I don't need to overdo it. I know that regular exercise will improve the breathing, but I don't think I've conveyed that to the reasoning part of my brain.

I take my prescription medicine just like I'm supposed to do, but I take aspirin and tylenol and sometimes antihistamines in addition. Tylenol may stop the pain, but sometimes exercise would be better. And, sometimes I need to eat one of my small meals. So, my brain signals the wrong solution to the problem.

I'm trying to retrain my brain, but it's crafty and knows ways to circumvent my best thinking. So I think I'm off to get a sausage biscuit, and I can't get on the treadmill because the electricians are using the space for the attic steps, and I've taken all my medicine for the day. Brain 1, Balance 0.