Day 25 Progress so far

I've definitely had my ups and downs. Two weeks ago I had the most peaceful week of my life, followed by a week of emotional tosses and turns. Regardless, I feel that I have made significant progress. I have been thinking psychological more and more and realizing that it is mostly my current personality mixed with my current stressors that are causing my pain, and that I have been blaming my past situations as a way to avoid thinking about my personality traits that have been causing TMS.

On a physical level, I went out on a huge limb and hiked for 7 miles on Monday. Not bad for someone who was terrified to get on an elliptical 2 months ago. I literally felt on top of the world after this and started hiking the next day. I ended up getting some sharp pain after 5 minutes of hiking the next day, probably because I was so scared that I was over doing it. This pain has stuck with me all week, but I have kept on doing the elliptical. I am starting to realize that I need way more balance in my life and I need these times to get out and exercise/ get away. In reading Ozanich's book I'm also realizing that I need some way to burn off all this stored and generated tension, pushing me to keep up this exercising. I'm committed to 20 minutes on the elliptical 4 days a week regardless of how I feel. It's scary to take my attention off the pain and push through, but I want my life back.

As far as my finger pain, I have been typing with all my fingers again and still somewhat scared to push the envelop on this pain. I have been focusing more on my back pain and am trusting that my finger pain will get better as I make more progress in journaling/reading/exercising/ and simply getting more balanced.

 

Hi Hugh, it sounds like you are doing great. I've found overcoming the fear of overdoing physical activity to be the hardest thing for me. Like you, I'm just doing it anyway, regardless of pain, but sometimes it's a bit scary.