Week 48/2022: The continuing shoulder saga

Week of 28 November 2022

The continuing shoulder saga

I went back to the physio this week. She asked me about my back injury. It’s settled down a lot, I said.

And your shoulder? I feel like that’s not getting any better. It’s a bit stuck.

Have you been doing the exercises? Well, you know how I hurt my back and I was in a lot of pain and I wasn’t doing them while me back was recovering and it’s been really hard to get back into the habit . . . .

Yes . . .?

She knows this is just an excuse and she knows that I know that, and she said I have to do the exercises. And she didn’t need to say anything else.

I’m pretty sure if she had, it would have been along the lines of, “Your shoulder is never going to get better unless you do the work. You’ve come to me for help because I’m an expert and I know a lot more about how to fix this injury than you so you need to follow my instructions. If you don’t, you’re wasting your money, your time and my time that I could be spending with other clients who actually are participating in their own recovery. So do the exercises.”

She didn’t say any of that but it’s what I was thinking she would think, and every word is true. If I want to fix this, I have to do the work. So that’s what I’m doing and I’m now regularly doing four of the six exercises every day. And (who’d have thought ) I’m noticing a big difference at the end of the week compared to where I was on Tuesday when I went to see her.

Who’d have thought.

Yes, she does know what she’s talking about, and I have to follow her instructions.

22 for 2022 update

Nothing to report. I’m still working through the Dymocks Reading Challenge (thing 21). Everything else has stalled.

Am I concerned? No.

22 for 2022 summary

• Things completed to date: 9 (8, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22)
• Things completed this week: 0
• Things I worked on this week: 1 (21)
• Things in progress: 7 (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 12, 21)
• Things not started: 2 (14, 16)
• Things I’m not going to do: 4 (4, 7, 9, 15)

What do I want to do next week?

Continue to focus on healing my shoulder, including doing the exercises and making sure I take regular breaks from sitting at the computer.

Weekly summary

What was the best thing about this week?

There were lots of best things this week!

I saw Kramstable perform in a short play that he’s been working on this term with his outside of school dram class. That was lots of fun. He’s now been doing that program for eleven years.

I went out walking and looking for agapanthus.

I visited The STARE exhibition by Second Echo Ensemble which is “a curiosity-driven ensemble that values and grows creative relationships, unique perspectives, and collaboratively devised performances”. Their mission is to create and present exceptional performance that challenges assumptions, shakes up stereotypes, and gives voice to untold stories.

They say

We don’t make a performance about having a disability or not having a disability. We do work about life, its surroundings, its imaginings, its rhythms, its anger, and its celebrations.

The exhibition was called The STARE:

We’ve always been taught not to stare, not to look at someone deeply because it might offend them. So we look away. If we don’t look, we can’t see, and if we can’t see, we can’t know, so how can we understand?

It was  a great exhibition and some of the artists were there during the day.

I spoke to Paul, whose work was “about things that are treasures—but only treasures to the one who finds them to be treasure”.

Paul’s treasures, which he says “offered me a sense of peace”, included skins, knives, and poets, who we were invited to hear on a cassette recording. I especially loved the line “what is awkward and strange can find elegance”. I’ve been thinking about that a lot.

What did I learn this week?

I learned that an icebreaker is a very unpleasant way to travel to Antarctica. I have no desire to ever go on one.

What did I notice this week?

I saw one bus driver wearing a mask.

What I’m reading this week

• The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr

Habit tracker

• Morning ritual (Goal = 7): 6
• Move before 3 pm (Goal = 7): 7
• Morning writing (Goal = 7): 7
• The Little Red Writing Book exercises (Goal = 5): 0
• Listened to writing podcasts (Goal = 2): 0
• Controlled breathing (Goal = 7): 7
• All six physiotherapy exercises (Goal = 7): 0
• Mental health break outside during my work days in the office (2 days): 2
• Finish work by 5.30 (Goal = 4): 4
• Shut my computer down before 9.15 (Goal = 6): 6