The Forest Look

Living with MS means I am constantly thinking about how to take good care of myself. What I eat, how much I eat, sleep and exercise all makes such a difference to me. And if I spend a couple of weeks on holiday eating and drinking too much (like now) then I try and counteract the overindulgence with more exercise (preferably in a forest-it really is true what they say about forests and forest bathing).

I’m currently trying all sorts to get fitter and stronger. This can be quite a challenge due to the fact that my leg gives up after a few minutes of walking or running, and I barely break into a sweat before I have to stop to rest my crazy leg.

So yesterday I cycled up a massive hill pulling my (heavy) children in a trailer behind me to try and get a sweat on.

The husband was getting loads of dirty looks as I struggled up behind him. He even got heckled at one point.

I was mostly giggling at my ridiculousness and the dirty looks hubby was getting  (the giggling makes it impossible to cycle up steep hills by the way). He was mostly taking the piss out of my cycling-up-a-hill-tactics, and trying to explain to the heckling strangers how stubborn I can be.

But I did it. I broke into a sweat and was quite out of breath at the top.

And I felt a sense of achievement that you get from things like childbirth and completing a marathon. (By the way a marathon for me now is walking further than I did yesterday, which isn’t very far, so please don’t think I only consider 26.2 miles a worthy challenge. I’ve done both. And my mini walks are so much harder than when I actually could run a marathon).

So here it is. My sweaty-forest-look. Crazy hair optional.

Here’s to finding ways to stay as strong and fit as you can for as long as you can. It feels pretty amazing.

Love, Lynne x