Walking the thin line between Annus Horribilis and Annus Mirabilis

Back from my walk today. Little Nimki and Baby Loaf are in the background on the sofa.

 I went for a walk this morning after a break of around  4 or 5 day, unless more. What started as a morning stroll a month back and has now morphed into a full-fledged morning walk and I quite look forward to these. My morning walks are very different from my evening walks. One huffs and puffs and walks up and down our lane in the evening and strains to complete 30 minutes. 

My morning walks first started at 9am as I am not a morning person. With each passing day I woke up earlier. Today I headed out at 7.45 am, which is a record for me! 

The other day I woke up and saw little Nimki sitting beside me as if to see if I needed any tending to

I don’t wear my headphones when I walk. Today I did not take my mobile. I have to hold it my hand as my shorts/ drawstring pants tend to slip down thanks to the weight of the phone and I am always worried about wardrobe malfunctioning!

I like to stay with my thoughts instead. I like to listen to the chirping of the birds. The cries of the hawkers. I like to observe what’s around me. Sometimes a song gets stuck in my head. Today it was ‘main hu Don.” From the original movie of course. 

I clocked 50 minutes before I stopped to meet Smol, Scooby and Jugs, the Kitty Blinders. My community cat friends from round the corner. Then another 5 minutes while I walked back and then climbed up the stairs to Baby Loaf and Little Nimki who were waiting at home.

How did I clock 50 minutes when I struggle to finish 30 in the evening? It is simple. I go down the ‘main road’ where the traffic is a lot less than in the evening. And it is more shaded than our lane. This makes the walk a lot more than interesting as there’s so much more to observe here.

What did I reflect on today? My health. I wryly thought of how this has been a year in which I have undergone an unusually high number of health challenges in the 3.5 months since the year started.

Baby Loaf snuggled between K & me the other evening. He saw me coughing and wanted  to give me healing vibes.

The ones that come to mind

• The debilitating cough of the past few days which made my chest heave and took my voice away. It finally came under control yesterday. I did a RTCPR test for Covid and that came clear too.
• Then there was the fall in the bathroom, where I passed out for a short bit. Our neighbour took me the hospital. K returned at night from Bangalore and took me to the hospital for a battery of tests the next day, accompanied by a friend. Everything was clear.
• My blood sugar HB1C came out as stratospheric in the tests. Eating, partly, as recommended by the clinic dietitian, walking, cutting down on post dinner snacking, sugar free desserts helped. My HB1C came down by a point in a month thanks to these lifestyle changes.
• I had a spurt of headaches. The neurologists said these are migraines. Our GP thinks its sinusitis. Medication has helped bring these down.
• I had the odd stomach upset going by the number of times I had curd rice and khihchdi. Nothing  that stayed on for long
• The sundry backache has happened though the recovery has been faster than before. And the frequency a lot lower.