Motion Forword - Words of a Therapist: Gardening Calamities, Fuel to the Fire and A Swan Story
Welcome to Motion Forword - Words of a Therapist! Number 22!
Motion Forword is about discussing the combined benefits of movement with a positive mental attitude. Using my personal/professional experiences, evidence-based research and some of your own experiences.
Bringing some hope, positivity, happiness and maybe usefulness to those, perhaps like yourself, that needs a pick me up.
Something about me…Spring Cleaning
I like the outdoors. I like walking in the woods. I like being in the fresh air.
But I am no gardener.
But with some motivation and help, I sorted out my garden.
As many of us, I’m sure, have been waiting for the weather to turn to make this unappealing task slightly more appealing.
But it is around this time of year, people start hurting themselves in this annual outing!
It made me ask myself… Why?
Well… I believe it has something to do with the amount of time between each spring time. We may do very little gardening during the autumn months and perhaps none at all in the winter.
It may be the best part of a year until we come around to pruning, pulling and potting again.
I go back to the ol’ adage: ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it’.
So our bodies have become deconditioned.
They are not used to all the hard work that comes with gardening anymore and this is when injuries are most likely to happen. Especially if you don’t keep active regularly during the rest of the year.
My advice?
Remember that just because your brain says you can, doesn’t mean your body is always ready for it! (I call it a ‘mismatch’). So try these tips to avoid a gardening calamity!
Build up gradually to your gardening tasks - warm up, do some stretching, prepare your body!
Take regular breaks (time will fly!)
During the warmer days take on plenty of water. Gardening is thirsty work and staying hydrated is important
Don’t do the large tasks (lifting large pots, stubborn roots, digging heavy soil etc) without help when you need it. Ask for help!
Take breaks from low/bent over work e.g. weeding, low potting/pruning.
Bring things higher where possible - if potting plants, do it on a work bench rather than more bent over work.
But enjoy the sun and your gardens as summer is around the corner…
My lillies, bloody massive thing!
Something for you… Fuel to the Fire
I go through phases of using anologies to explain things. I wish I had a book where I wrote them all down, so for now, they’ll go in my blog!
My most recent one is ‘Adding Fuel to the Fire’.
Who doesn’t like a lovely campfire or log burner to cosy round?
Mmmm. So snuggly! But most sensible camp goers will know not to through petroleum directly on an open fire…
The same applies in this anology. The fire represents discomfort, pain and/or problems and adding further fuel to that fire only makes things worse.
Flaring it up, p**sing it off and just making it all feel angry and sore.
For example, let’s say you have a shoulder problem (the fire) and lifting a weight above your head (the fuel) makes it worse.
The sensible thing would be to not do that. Stop adding fuel to the fire and allow the fire to burn down to embers and eventually go out.
This is where the anology gets a little bit iffy but stay with me.
After doing the sensible thing we would, eventually and gradually, want to start re-introducing ‘the fuel’. The fire is out and it is safer to start rehabilitating the original injury because ultimately we may well want to continue being able to lift weight above our heads! (it can be useful!)
For example:
Look how pretty she is!
So there is a ‘better’ time to add the fuel and a not-so-good time to add the fuel.
As I often find myself saying… it’s about balance and timing. Doing enough to help things recover but not too much, too soon that could aggravate the whole thing.
If this is something you, a friend or a colleague need help with, please share this blog around ☺️
A story… SWANS!
Sticking with a spring theme. I came across a first in my life this month.
I got to see swan eggs… each about the size of 5-6 medium chicken eggs.
Now I know this is a swan nest and are swan eggs because the week before when I walked by a swan, it was happily chilling there.
And was very protective and angrily hissed at me the moment I got near.
The following week I saw the eggs.
The pair of swans were feeding in the harbour with one of their cygnets not batting an eye towards me, despite how close I was to their unborn babies.
I honestly thought they would come charging at me to prevent me from making a swan egg omelette. But they didn’t. Why?
I am not a ecologist nor a swan expert so I don’t know.
But I wonder if there is a intuition that they have done all they can and its up to the unborn cygnets to do the rest.
The following week when I walked by, all 5 eggs had gone.
My hope is that all 5 hatched and I’ll see them around the harbour next time.
Moral of the story?
We can accept support, protection and guidance from our family, friends, peers, collegues, coaches, therapist etc, but when its crunch time (or crack time as the case may be) we can only rely on ourselves to break free.
Thanks for reading.
Until next month…
Motion Forword ⏩⏩
Nathan