On the Virtues of Going Slooooowwwww

My contributions to this blog will soon become less frequent. Honestly, I just don’t have as much left to say. I don’t want to become like that tiresome grandparent who’s always telling the same story, as if you haven’t heard it eight times before.

Of course, I’ll always be monitoring the comments. And the best way to reach out to me, as I’ve said before, is to leave a comment.

Occasionally, when thinking up ideas for blog posts, I ask myself which messages are worth repeating -- what have I said that should be said again and underscored, with a few exclamation points added at the end? One such message, I believe, is lose weight.

Another is this: you won’t believe how slow healing a pair of bad knees is.

No, really. You. Have. No. Idea.

Now some of you, whose knees aren’t too bad, will be on the comeback trail in a few weeks and may be much better after a month or two. If so, congratulations and utter a small prayer of thanks. Because you got off really easily.

Most of you won’t be so lucky. You’ll spend months tinkering with a recovery program, changing diets, exercises, and all sorts of variables. You will wonder if you’re making progress. Self-doubt will sometimes become intense.

The problem is, often it can be hard to tell if you’re moving forward or running in place, going nowhere. I think this is especially true for people with really bad knees, who most likely need to spend a few years just to get them to improve from terrible to bad.

I know there are a lot of mysteries about how healing occurs. But I think it can. That, to me, is a tremendously inspiring message.

But it’s always good to keep in mind that slow, gradual progress -- even slower than you think is slow -- is the best way to go.