Balancing Act

Welll, look who came back to the blog. It's not that I forgot, just that it was better if I didn't post. As I've said before, this is not a forum for my personal/emotional problems and that's what it would have turned into the last few days if I went anywhere near this. So, I was good and actually listened to my own advice for once and stayed away.

So, what is this entry about? It's about balance.

I'm not talking about Balance Druid in World of Warcraft, although if I did play a druid, it'd be a balance since they're a ranged DPS which is my favourite form of DPS.

No, I'm talking about the balance between resting and doing things. When you have back pain, it's important to find that balance and it is not easy. Since I've been off work for the holidays, a lot of my time has been spent on my ass, eating chocolate and playing video games and watching Battlestar Galatica (which, if you haven't seen, you need to watch. Now. Whether you're a sci-fan fan/nerd or not. It's a great show! And I'm talking about the new one, not the old one. But I'm only on season 2 so if you give me spoilers I know several people who will beat you for ruining it for me). That resting is fine. I'm catching up on stuff and all is good. And then I get up to go do something.

Even now, I can feel the tension in my back, like the muscles are all pushed together. The magic bag works so much for it, and then it doesn't help unless I reheat it. When I ventured out to the mall earlier (the first place I've been since coming back from my grandfather's on Christmas day), I could feel the spasms in places I don't usually get them, like more on the side on the back.

How I managed to carry a printer, I'm not sure yet. It's not a big one, really, and the bags helped. I was gonna take a cab home but my friend had to pick up his girlfriend soon anyways and said he'd come get me. Got him a coffee for the help. Even if I didn't have the bad back though, I would have taken the cab home because that would have just been awkward to carry.

But, basically, that's where the problem is. It's all about balance. I guess that's what life is about too, but that's another entry for another blog. With back pain, you want to rest. But too much rest makes your muscles lazy, for lack of a better word. So when you try to do something, the muscles don't wanna do it and it hurts. But if it's not hurting, and you do too much, then you're just gonna make it hurt more.

So you need to find that balance between resting and being active enough to not make the pain worse. And it's not easy. I'm stubborn and I'll end up doing one of them more than I should. And no one can say where that balance is. You just gotta try it for yourself.

There's a lot of trial and error with back pain, whether it's from seeing if you can lift something, or trying a different way to move something, or even just seeing how long you can relax before your muscles forget how to work. And I'm assuming everyone is different and all the pain and thresholds are different.

You just gotta try it out and find that balance for yourself.

Ok, now I want to go back a balance druid on WoW.