Better Life Habits

Lessons From a Broken Wrist

January 20th I broke my wrist. Got clocked from behind by a worse ice skater than me. I'm on the mend and the experience has left me just a bit wiser about a few things.

1. Being brave is overrated. For many of us our first reaction to an injury is often "No. I'm fine. I'll be OK." Which is what I was saying while I was unable to get up off of the ice and while I was grimacing in pain at the side of the rink. How dumb was that? You don't get any points for being brave. What you also don't get is help. Fortunately for me a few friends there ignored my words and stepped in to get an ice pack, offered to help me get my son home, and took a quick look at my arms and advised a trip to the ER.
2. Same advice as above goes for deciding to forgo pain medications and tough it out. Failure to get adequate sleep, which is what pain meds can help avoid, will affect your state of mind and therefore your healing. Stay ahead of the pain and get your rest.
3. Glad Press & Seal does a pretty good job of protecting your limb in the shower. Using it you still need to keep the limb out of the direct stream of water, but it will keep your cast from getting wet from the spray.
4. I never realized that pins used to stabilize the bone during healing actually PROTRUDE FROM THE SKIN. Ugh. I can't even put into words how creeped out I was by that whole thing. And I was paralyzed with fear about the removal process, which is done in the office. Turns out it wasn't so bad. Much ado about very little. If it ever happens to you, now you know.
5. Regarding the above, I had a few minutes to wait in the doctor's office and as my anxiety mounted I knew I had to get out of my own head. In those few minutes I texted supportive messages to a number of people that I knew were going through medical or family challenges of their own. As crummy as my situation felt at the time, putting it in perspective helped. I want to remember that in the future.
6. This last one was not a new lesson, but an affirming one. People are truly kind. Folks brought food for me and my family, sent flowers, gave me rides to medical appointments, tied my running shoes, walked with me when I couldn't run, loaned me a really great sling, sent encouraging notes and emails, and gave me hugs -- which was one of the most appreciated things of all.

Breaking the Sugar (or any other) Habit

Friday, May 1 at 10:00 p.m. I decided to give up sugar. I had just raided my son's gallon Ziploc bag and downed a few Smarties and some Hershey's kisses. There may have been more but I stopped paying attention to the wrappers. And the fact that I was doing that very thing at that time of the night was the reason I decided I had to lay off the stuff. Partially for health reasons and partially just to see if I can.

So it's been 10 days and I haven't stumbled once. Not even an Atomic Fireball. I think I know why it's working and I believe that these same ideas can help a person work on changing other habits.

• Set a time limit. Mine is 30 days. Then, if I want to, I can go back to eating whatever I want. Saying that this is a forever decision is too daunting. I'm just doing it for now.

• Take one challenge at a time. Yesterday at my mom's celebrating Mother's Day she had an ice cream sundae bar. I REALLY wanted some ice cream with caramel sauce. But I took it one minute at a time. I got a really good cup of coffee and savored it. Just one minute at a time the decision was made not to have the ice cream. Pretty soon it was being put away and the temptation was gone. When you're challenged, break temptation down into the smallest possible successes and build on it.

• Make it reasonable. In this case giving up sugar means cookies, candy, cake, pie, cinnamon bread, ice cream and the like. Fake sugar is also banned for the time being. However I have consumed food where sugar is an ingredient -- like in prepared spaghetti sauce. I had a couple of margaritas at a party and I'm sure there is sugar in that mix. The list of things I'm giving up is easy to manage and do-able, it's not over the top. Striving for perfection can lead to an all or nothing way of thinking. "I had a margarita so I may as well eat that sleeve of Thin Mints." Start small and manageable.

• Tell someone about your effort. People who believe in you will help you succeed. People who don't believe you can do it will inspire you to prove them wrong!

These strategies also work if you're trying to create a new habit, like starting to exercise program, or getting better organized. If you try them, I'd like to hear how these strategies work for you. And if you have others post them here.

Tired? Drink a big glass of water.

According to an article in Psychology Today, mild dehydration can be the cause of fatigue. If you find yourself losing energy throughout the day, lack of sleep could be the culprit, or perhaps you're just dehydrated. Drink at least eight glasses of water a day and don't wait until you're thirsty to drink.

Want to remember how much water you've consumed? Drink out of a water bottle and in the morning put eight rubber bands around the top half of the bottle. Each time you empty the bottle (by drinking the water, not by dumping it out or spilling it, you dope.) move a rubber band down the bottom half of the bottle. When you've moved all the rubber bands, you've hit your quota for the day.

I stopped buying cases of water long ago because I live in a city that has great tasting water and even though I recycled the plastic bottles, it seemed like a waste. I then bought a number of the polycarbonate bottles that "they" now say leech bad stuff into the water because of the BPA #5. So now I plan on getting stainless steel bottles for me and my family. You can check out some of them at www.yourguidetogreen.com

Cheers!