Commitment

I realized today just how strong my commitment is to trying to heal my hip (or rather, strengthen the area and hopefully avoid surgery) by the pool physical therapy program. I got a late start on the morning and can't even put into words how much I didn't feel like going to the pool. I wanted another 10 minutes of sleep. A large coffee. Anything but having to actually go through the exercises... much as I love being able to do some exercise, I still don't particularly enjoy pools because the process to exercise at our public pool takes forever.

But I did it anyway. I went to the pool, later than I had planned, but I got there and started my routine. I was doing pretty well 17 minutes into the exercises when a lifeguard came over to me and said that the pool was closed. Closed? Yes, I know I was running a bit late, but it's 9am on a summer day. "When do you reopen?" I asked. He said at 11. So I had to stop my exercises and leave.

I decided that I really needed to finish my exercises, so I went back to the pool during my lunch hour. It was swamped with children of all sizes. It never ceased to amaze me how people so little can make such enormous waves, kick the water so hard, and displace so much water. But I found a "safe" little corner in the deep end and finished my entire set of exercises. I didn't start over from the beginning because I didn't want to overwork the muscles, but I did my first set again to warm up my body. I think that was a good idea. I started to have some pain while I did the exercises, so I backed off of the intensity and I focused hard on my form and squeezing the correct muscles.

I got a lot of curious stares but nobody pestered me. Of course, people don't tend to approach people who are wearing headphones. The music in the water is a good thing and a bad thing. I have a tendency to want to push harder when certain power songs come on. I have to fight that urge. BUT, it keeps the pool exercises a little more enjoyable, and that helps me actually get going. Yay for fun!

I'm proud of my commitment. At the end of all of this, if I ultimately have to undergo surgery, I want to look back at my effort and know that I did everything I could do to the best of my ability to help get better. Beyond that, it's out of my hands.