Hello once again
It's seems there is so much yet so little to tell.
It's been an almost continuous stream of work occasionally punctuated by more work. I am physically exhausted. My poor adrenal glands are like two tortured pieces of jerky all shrivelled and dedicated, void of all life, simply a place-holder more than a functioning organ.
I do it to myself so complaining is stupid. Still I am going to whine a bit. How have my adrenals become biltong? An average wake up of 3am and working 4/5am to 6pm then some Kung-Fu till 9pm. I also started ballroom dancing/Latin American. I really wanted to dance and I wanted to do something with Cuddlefish so this was the solution. We live past each other due to my hours so the chance to enjoy my passion for movements with him in a way that is not the horizontal shuffle is precious to me. The dancing is all terribly cheesy and also loads of fun.
Apart from physical exhaustion my body did go on strike. I had a bad fall a year ago and I severely messed up my back. It's the first time that has ever happened so it was a big shock to the system to realize I can't always bully my body into obeying me. It's the first time I have felt quite that fragile. Since then it's never recovered despite numerous treatments of varying modalities and in fact has been very slowly getting more insistent. Finally I found the right Doctor though. As a fellow martial artist, gymnast and hippie he understands that movement is my life. We were both afraid it was Spondylolisthesis which is when one vertebra slides forward over another but X-rays ruled that. I was so relieved I started crying. There is some disc/vertebrae stuff going on due to my scoliosis and various cumulative injuries over the years but it turns out the main issue has been a hip flexor dysfunction which needs a bit of re-educating in addition to all the Pilates rehab stuff I do. I have been doing the weird little hip flexor thingy and daily rehab only three days now and my mobility has improved and pain reduced both by 30%. I also know this is all largely related to needing down time as well as needing more Yin energy in my life. After all the effort I put into work and training the idea of being restricted because of my back has weighed heavily on me, hence me breaking down when I found out it wasn't Spondylolisthesis. Before we got the x-ray report I watched this video and it was exactly what I needed to see at time. These two old ladies are my heroes.
I did take a small holiday. We camped literally across from the ocean and did nothing constructive the entire time. All we did was eat fabulous food, read, walk on the beach and hike. I was fortunate enough to see a rare forest bird while hiking called a Narina Trogon
These little amazing moments are exactly what bring me some zen and revitalises me. Relaxation and fornication also precipitated the strangest sex dream. In the dream I was shagging some big Nordic bear of a person. This occurred in space naturally. How you may ask; well logically we were superheroes or gods. Our carnal cavortings were so intense that planets were destroyed and new matter created. It was one of the weirdest, scariest, most erotic, spiritual, vivid dreams I have had. Worthy of mentioning as I never have interesting dreams, I have lame dreams about work so I was really happy to have a wild superhero sex-dream. The whole vacation was amazing but it honestly seemed like a blip on the radar, a week of vacation was not enough.
One of my New Years resolutions was to work smart and not hard to sort out the adrenal jerky. It has been an abysmal failure but apart from that most of my resolutions have been successful. I have to give myself that much credit at least. I always feel like I am trying to play catch up with my journey towards the next level physically and in my career. Mostly as I started much later in life. Thus I battle to take it slowly because it feels like it is time wasted that I don't have. The stupid part is that is that I need to slow down to make my goals happen, not work harder or more. We are going to try see what can be done to make that happen. A mental gear-shift is what is mostly required.
Another one of my New Years resolutions was to do more new things. So I did my first 10km race:Jump City Challenge. There was running up and down stadium stairs, monkey bars swinging, jumping off an 8m high diving board into a pool (interesting if you suffer from acrophobia) obstacles, boot camp, burpies, push-ups, tyres lugging etc. For it being my first stab at this type of thing I managed to come in at a pretty reasonable time 20 min before my team-mates. The same crazed individuals also roped me into an 8 km trail run, another new experience. I managed to blacken toenails which I now hear is a common issue for trail running. Running interspersed with other non-cardio activities is fine, consistent running is wretched. Fuck up hills, that is all. Having said that my time was not awful. I came 6th out of the ladies bunch. I loved doing these races and next time I will do some more cardio based preparation. Since my goal for these two races was merely to finish I declare success! I do realize the above may not facilitate the down time I require but what can I say: My name is Lumo, I am a workaholic, I also am an endorphin addict. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem I am told. Photographic evidence, please forgive me looking terrible, glamorous exercising is not a concept I have managed to get down.
Jump City:
Tough Man Trail Run:
New Years Resolution to get into Splits : success!
New Years resolutions about handstands for one million years?
Well... Headstands at least
To remind everyone I have been known to exist in a form that does not include exercise induces red-faced, sweaty messiness, here is a teaser of something awesome I did with @arroia which will be coming out soon. I was stoked to do a multi one of my besties, one of the most gorgeous ladies I know and one of the few people as mad wiry as myself. It should be in MR on the 23 Sept so keep an eye out.
I got featured in Geekology, thanks @suicidegirls. Go get a copy and have a look.
My last piece of news is I finally linked my Instagram to SG, which will make it was easier to show I am still alive. I may not have much time for social media any more but I do have time to take and post quick pictures.I have seriously, seriously missed being on here. If you aren't following me on there yet though: Lumo's Instagram
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