Getting Older

This last cycle was an introduction to aging. I originally wanted to run every day like I did in Cycle 5, but early on in the cycle I got a hip injury. Actually… I got that injury over 20 years ago while playing soccer. I fell into the split and ended up with a limp that probably lasted weeks. It eventually healed and all was well in the universe except for the fact that my left hip was tighter than it used to be. “Fixing” that old injury was always on my mind. I figured I could stretch it away but that never happened. At the beginning on this cycle I was running and I decided I’d do some stretching but I ended up overstretching my injured hip. No problem! It would be right as rain if I waited a couple weeks.

I originally just kept running even though my hip hurt figuring it would sort itself out. After a week or two of it not sorting itself out I decided to stop running to let it heal. I figured that would take a couple weeks. Well… weeks turned into months and… it never got better. Not being able to run threw off all of my other habits. Then the combination of not exercising and experiencing my first “old man” injury got me depressed. I was further depressed by thinking (or trying to not think!) about the manic episode I just had during Cycle 5. I just kind of kept spiralling downward because of all of that. Then I just ended up playing a lot of video games and avoiding life.

All Habits Fell Off

I had four things I wanted to focus on during Cycle 7. Exercise in the form of running every day, Chinese study, writing, and job searching. All of those habits were built around running. I’d basically start the day with my running, get home, write, study Chinese and look for work. When the running stopped everything stopped. Running was my “keystone habit”. Not being able to run wasn’t something I even considered. Then when I couldn’t run anymore I never “switched gears”. I’m taking what I learned from this last cycle and using it to improve the next.