Summer Self-Care

[drbrt]

Bucket list is shorthand for the things to do before you kick the bucket list

[backatit]

Use the CPAP.  It changed my life, and I should have been on it ten years before I got it in 2011.  I would almost certainly be dead now if I did not finally obey the doctor then.  It is painless and easy.

I've had mine a year and it's been a life changer. Instead of 3-5 migraines a week, I get one every six months, and we had no idea the migraines were even related. I sleep so much better now. Still not perfect, but at my age, perfect isn't going to happen anyhow.

Today is our last day (probably) of total calm and relaxation while traveling. I hope to listen to the birds and the farm animals and sit in the sun a bit, and probably ride my bike a little. Aaaaaah.

Tomorrow we go for a long weekend into a major city where we don't speak the language and there is a huge event so probably not so relaxing (the train transfers and not getting lost are always stressful) but exciting and something on our major "to do and enjoy" list. I don't call it a bucket list because 1) why buckets? and 2) it's not that exciting.

Thanks for the feedback - that is interesting about the migraines. I've suffered from them for years, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. Preventative meds have been helpful but I still get two or three per month and some morning headaches that aren't quite migraines but that probably ARE related. Now that I know that this is a problem I've been waking up every morning feeling like I've been wrestling bears. I hope the company calls me soon for a fitting.

As for getting lost in a strange place; good luck and enjoy. Since the advent of Google maps I've gotten really bad about that aspect of traveling, and it's on my list of things to get better about. I USED to be really good at getting lost, and my husband is a pro at it, but I've lost my comfort level with the experience. Not something I'm proud to admit.

[InfoPri]

I have to admit, every day is summer for me now, given that I apparently am retired, and also given that I now live in Somewhere Warm, where the only way we know it's summer is that it's even hotter than usual (and maybe rainier).  (I do spend three or four months in MyCity, where I still have a house, but the moment fall threatens to turn cold--or, heaven forbid, snowy--we're out of there and on our way back to Somewhere Warm.

That said, my self-care is to spend at least six and preferably eight or ten hours a week in the gym, working out.  (I just posted on another thread about why, after a lifetime of avoiding exercise as if I were allergic to it, I have by all appearances turned into a gym rat.)  I just got back from five days visiting my sister (which is most definitely not self care and is, in fact, arguably its opposite), so I'm overdue for some exercise, and I feel it in my stiffness and increased general discomfort.

I am also binging on long-deferred and recently discovered streaming TV shows, and even finding time for some reading.  Also, while I use a 125cc scooter in Somewhere Warm for my daily transportation (unless it's pouring or I need to carry more than my boot will carry), here in MyCity I ride my 400cc scooter, often just for the sheer joy of taking it out into the country (just 10 minutes from my house in the center of the city) where there are no traffic lights, no traffic, and only an occasional stop sign.

Life is good, and I feel fortunate every single day.