After I wrenched my lumbar in May, it took five weeks for my back to heal, and each of the past four days I’ve arisen pain free.
I spend a lot of time on the topic of maintaining the streaks. Some are within your control, others are not, and my back being pain free is only partly within my control.
Why?
Because it’s a second order streak.
A first order streak would be daily exercise. Maintaining daily exercise is 100% within my control.
A second order streak would be having the proper alignment of my lumbar spine, leading to pain free days. This arises from strength, stability, mobility and flexibility training. The exercises are within my control, but the pain is not.
In other words, being pain free is a result of doing something else, and doing that something else is no guarantee that I’ll be pain free. It took 4 weeks of regular lumbar rehabilitation exercises to get pain free. I had the exercise streak for a month, but was still in pain.
Anyway.
The life transforming effects of building up good habits through small disciplines are starting to be realized. I’m seeing improvements in my
- physical health
- personal hygiene
- mental health
I’m getting more done, in less time as I develop my new and better habits and routines. My self discipline is improving and I’m now continually adding to my daily tasks, increasing the pace and scope of change.
It’s nice, at the six month point of these efforts (I began the day the boys went back to school in January), to be able to celebrate something genuinely good…a healthy, recovering, pain free back.
It may only be four days, but I think I like it.
