She's a Maniac

Ok, you know you’re now singing that song from Flashdance and your toes are tapping and you want to get up and dance. Well…maybe not, but I sure do.

But at this point, I can’t even tap my toes. I am down for the count. I pulled something in my lower right back that hurts all the way up my side and down into my right hamstring. How did I do it? I over did it with my fitness routine.

These past few weeks, I have really kicked it up a notch with my exercise regimen. And I think my mind forgot to tell my body that I’m not as young as I once was. As I get closer to my goal weight, I have found the need to exercise more to get the scale to move. And as I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and I’ve realized that the light is not an oncoming train, I am pushing harder and harder to reach my goal. So I’ve been working out like a maniac with a laser focus on my goal.

Balanced behavior? Not really. According to the World English Dictionary, a maniac is:

1- a wild disorderly person

2- a person who has a great craving or enthusiasm for something

I truly chuckled at the first definition. As much as I’d like to be a wild disorderly person, I’m the consummate rule follower. But the second definition got me thinking. What’s wrong with being a person who has a great craving or enthusiasm for something? I have great enthusiasm for many things- God, my family and friends, building relationships, the outdoors, reading, the power of education, art, poetry.

I love rubbing elbows with someone who is really passionate about something. Their enthusiasm is contagious and makes me want to be the best I can be.

Being down for the count this week with my back was a wake-up call for me that over the past few weeks, I have been a maniac, but not in a good way. I lost my balanced approach to wellness. My black and white, all or nothing thinking had gotten the best of me. With my fitness and eating, it was either full steam ahead or not at all.

So even though this back pain is literally a pain in the a$$, I give thanks for it because it gave me the down time I needed to reflect and re-group on my wellness path.

One of the goals of this blog is to be transparent, to help others to see that we are not perfect and that’s OK, we are not meant to be. Thanks for coming along in this up and down life journey with me and for embracing me just the way I am, maniac and all. ;)

What I learned this week is that it’s wonderful to have a great craving or enthusiasm for something, as long as it doesn’t take you over. 

Ask for help, make a choice, commit to the choice and continue with courage.

Hugs and friendship,

Tara