Category: Health & Well Being

Letting The Hate Flow Through You…

Okay, maybe “hate” is a bit of s strong word but I couldn’t help to have a small play on words from Star Wars. But the focus of today’s post is negative emotion, more specifically, anger. We all get angry sometimes. The best example of anger in action is in toddlers. Think about it, when a toddler doesn’t get what they want or can’t vocalize what they need, they tend to let their internal anger grow and bubble up to the surface. As adults, we tend to identify these emotional outbursts as “tantrums” and usually do our best to stop them from occurring. Sometimes, punitive discipline, such as being relegated to one’s room or having a favorite toy away, is used as a means of not only stopping these angry outbursts but to also prevent future outbursts from happening. But is that the right approach? Just to be clear, folks, this post isn’t an attempt at telling folks how they should parent their child. In fact, with the exception of this particular example, the post will be about anger in general and not focused on children. It’s just an extremely good example.

I need to confess that I’ve probably re-written this post about three times, followed by deleting the content and starting from scratch. Why? Because anger, and really, most emotion in general, has always been a bit of a difficult concept to me. As a child, I was usually timid, withdrawn and never really displayed huge outbursts of visible emotion. During my formative years, I was what most Trekkies would consider to be a proverbial Vulcan, perhaps experiencing the emotions inside but keeping them internalized so that all you see is the creepy, unsettling calm of a young child showing you nothing that you could gauge. As I got older, I was victim of bullying all throughout my school career. While this has a measurable effect on anyone it would happen to, for me, it had the effect of encouraging my martial arts training and to begin using some of my emotion as a valuable tool for growth. Some of the after effects surrounding anger didn’t work out for me so well. By the time I had graduated high school and made my way through college, anger started to become a very real part of my reality. And I externalized it likely far more than I probably should have.

It wouldn’t be until I reached the young stage of adulthood that I would begin to embrace martial arts, not only as a fighting art and means of self-defense, but as a focusing tool to allow me to channel and move my anger in a constructive way, instead of constantly losing my shit over the smallest things. Soon after, I began studying Zen Buddhist concepts, immersing myself in meditation, breathing exercises and finding ways to center myself. You would be amazed at how simple, deep-breathing exercises and clearing one’s mind can help focus and eliminate the anger in your heart. But the combination of both the martial arts and Buddhist concepts have allowed me to work through the past couple of decades in rather stressful and dangerous circles, all the while keeping my cool and controlling my anger. It doesn’t mean I don’t experience that anger; I’ve simply found a way to channel it. I often quip that I’m not calm because I study Buddhism; I study Buddhism to ensure I maintain that calm. To the average person, there likely doesn’t appear to be a difference. To the one working through, the difference is palpable.

So, what is anger? hell, what is emotion in general? Well, on the not-so-physical front, there’s a reason why people refer to emotions as “feelings.” Because it’s something you often end up feeling. Or your emotion elicits some physiological reaction in the body. If you’re sad, you’ll begin to weep. If you’re attracted to someone and begin to develop amorous feelings, your pulse and heart rate increases, you may sweat a bit and if this happens when you’re unfortunately in your teenage years, you may experience some embarrassing visible effects, which usually happen to you right around the time the teacher calls you up to the board to solve a math problem. Such is life. But because of this, and the physiological reaction they cause, most people throughout the ages have believed that emotion comes from the heart. My 11-year old son wisely commented to his mother recently that according to him, the heart only pumps blood. It doesn’t house feelings such as love. Smart kid. I may get to retire early yet…

So, where do emotions like anger actually come from, if not the actual heart? Well, that’s a complicated question and bearing in mind that I’m not a doctor, proceed at your own risk and take what I’m writing with grain of salt. For the most part, emotion stems from a number of systems within the body working together. Starting with the amygdala, which processes everything and tells your brain what emotion you should be feeling, this is coupled with the systems in the body that release key hormones and cause the physiological responses one feels. Then, your body generally pairs that with memory to connect the feeling with the thought, which elicits whatever response you may have. Some of that is primal and genetic and can’t be avoided, such as freezing in place when one hears a hissing snake. Evolution has given us certain genetic memories of when we should feel fear. There’s a whole mess of other moving parts mixed in there but as I said, I’m not a doctor and I certainly don’t understand some of it.

I found an interesting article in Psychology Today, which was posted in September of 2024, that says “(Charles) Darwin assumed a universality of emotional expressions – that they are expressed the same way across cultures and many species. He proposed that emotions are evolutionary adaptations that have helped humans and animals survive and reproduce, and argued that certain emotional expressions are linked to particular physiological responses and behaviors. Influenced by Darwin’s assumptions about emotional expression, in the second half of the twentieth century a theory developed that postulated that there are several basic hardwired emotions arising from deep, ancient, subcortical parts of the brain and that these basic emotions are universally expressed by all humans and shared by many animal species.”

Some of this makes a lot of sense. After all, people across the world who speak different languages and live in different cultures all feel the same happiness, the same anger, the same sadness… Emotion is almost a universal language. This is why people know what a smile is, even from infancy, and use it to express happiness. But some of Darwin’s thoughts focus on the fact that emotions are hard-wired as a result of evolution. If you have ten minutes for a constructive read, click on the hyperlink above and work through the article. It has some great insights into different emotional models. I’m slowly working my way off topic here and going down a bit of a rabbit hole, since my initial intention had been to discuss anger. But it’s difficult to look at a singular emotion without recognizing some o the generalized processes that occur in all of them. So here we are. And we should get back on topic. Before I get angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry… (see what I did there).

This raises the very basic question of, is anger a bad thing? The easy, high-level answer is no. All emotion one feels is not only perfectly normal and part of who you are as a human being, but experiencing them and expressing them is not only healthy, it’s necessary. The key point is HOW you express them. That’s what can make the difference between acknowledging that the asshole in the next lane didn’t MEAN to cut you off and you should get on with your day, or following them aggressively, while honking your horn and nearly causing a collision, just so they can see you flip them off at the next red light. And no, I’m not necessarily speaking from experience. But I have had a lot of experience. And I’ve existed in various states of anger and how I’ve dealt with it. In my teens and early 20’s, I didn’t experience or feel much anger. I’m always reminded of a time when I was out to coffee with a friend. He had always had a bit of an anger issue, and we were sitting at a corner table that had windows around it. Three youngsters stood outside one of these windows and began smoking. They were laughing and occasionally looking inside at us. My friend felt they were laughing at us and felt it was his obligation to step outside and teach them respect. I felt nothing.

Not feeling anger is not necessarily a good thing. In certain circumstances, it can signal that a person is suppressing or repressing them, perhaps as a result of an earlier trauma in life or because you were raised to believe anger was bad and would be punished. That being said, those feelings often surface as something else, such as anxiety or depression. During my younger years, I never looked at myself deeply enough to understand any of that but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized the importance of anger. Most people don’t take the opportunity to realize that anger can signal some very important things, like knowing that a personal boundary or belief has been crossed, that something is unfair to you or requires you to step up, emotionally. Anger is also important to help one with self-reflection; looking deep within themselves to potentially understand the source of this anger and why it was triggered. Last but not least, anger can be an incredible motivator. I’ve channeled my anger into workouts, karate sessions and as a tool to properly assert myself and re-examine situations I find myself in.

So, in closing, the important key aspect to note is to acknowledge that anger isn’t inherently a bad thing. Like most emotions on the spectrum, it’s how you process and deal with it that will make the difference. If you allow your anger to control you and drive your decisions, you can find yourself in compromising and even dangerous situations before you know it. But if you can learn to understand your anger and channel it appropriately, it can serve as an important tool that not only teaches you a few things along the way but can also be a powerful motivator for the adversity of life. The important thing is to find what works for you. Meditation and karate has been absolute life changers for me. But that may not work for someone else. After all, we’re all different people. So, the next time you get a craving for your favorite salt & vinegar chips and some wretched bastard ahead of you grabs the last bag, don’t grab them and put them through a window in rage. Instead, stop, take a deep breath and look within yourself. Don’t try to suppress your anger. Simply channel it and learn from it. You’ll be all the better for it. Food for thought… ☯️

Step Into Healthier Feet…

If you haven’t guessed, I enjoy my pun-based titles. Most posts I write will have some play on words relating to the content. Half the fun is in doing so. But anyway, yesterday I wrote on the importance of proper oral hygiene and how it relates to Diabetes. I’ve said it before and I can easily repeat now, Type-1 Diabetes has this nasty habit of affecting just about every aspect of the human body. From possible vision problems to compromised organs, it’s no wonder that people living with Type-1 Diabetes run into so many issues and complications. Tack on the fact that fluctuating blood sugars will often sap one’s energy and will, and you have an easy recipe for disaster where it relates to one’s health. And your feet are no exception. Proper foot health is a very real concern t=for someone living with Type-1 Diabetes. And today, we’re going to explore those problems. Walk with me… (see what I did there?)

Your feet are an important part of your body. Seems like a pretty obvious statement, right? After all, isn’t EVERY part of your body important? Well, that’s a matter of opinion… Just ask your tonsils or your appendix. But I digress… Your feet are essentially your means of locomotion, allowing you to walk, run, stand and if you happen to study the martial arts like me, kick, block and defend yourself. The loss of one’s feet would present fairly specific challenges that would make all around daily life a serious challenge. This is why it always makes me so sad when I hear that someone’s Type-1 Diabetes has gotten bad enough that they had to have their foot and/or feet amputated. In fact, it’s a Diabetic aspect that I’ve often seen referenced in comedy circles, right up there with quoting Wilfred Brimley. But all jokes, or attempted jokes aside, what are the issues that lead to this outcome? And what can someone with type-1 Diabetes do to properly prevent them?

According to an article posted by the Cleveland Clinic, “People with diabetes are at an increased risk of foot conditions and complications if they have diabetes-related neuropathy and/or poor circulation. Diabetes-related neuropathy happens when you experience nerve damage due to persistently high blood sugar (hyperglycemia). It most commonly affects your feet.” One of the reasons that these aspects tend to affect the feet, is also because it’s an extremity, where blood circulation will already be at its lowest. For this reason, neuropathy will set in much easier than in other areas of the body. The article goes on to indicate that these issues can be caused and snowball due to a number of different aspects, including sores or blisters that go unnoticed and are allowed to become infected. Since folks with Type-1 Diabetes have a weaker immune system, they’re at a higher risk of infection.

And the damage caused to the feet’s blood vessels can make the healing process take far longer. This increases the risk of the infection spreading into other areas of the body, leading to gangrene, which can lead to the amputation that seems to be the trademark of an uncontrolled Diabetic. Some of the prevailing conditions that can lead to foot complications include but are not limited to:

  • Cuts, ulcers, burns and blisters that don’t heal.
  • Dry, cracked skin.
  • Corns and calluses.
  • Fungal infections or ingrown toenails.
  • Hammertoes and bunions.

It can be pretty difficult for someone, especially if one is not a health care professional, to notice and identify some of the issues with one’s feet. But some of the symptoms that one should be on the look out for may include persistent sores, calluses or or blisters, bleeding without injury, infected skin or pus, foul smell, persistent aching or pain in the feet and/or ankles, swelling or skin discoloration. If you start to notice any of these issues, you may wish to consult your doctor or medical professional. Consistent symptoms may be an indicator of an issue that will require medical attention.

So, it’s fair enough o say that folks with Diabetes have this complication, but what causes it? Typically, foot issues are caused by neuropathy or poor circulation. Lessened circulation will also contribute to the difficulty in healing wounds on the feet. Uncontrolled blood sugars, like in every other scenario, take the driver’s seat in how healthy your feet will be, since consistently high blood sugars will cause nerve damage in the legs and feet, leading to consistent aching and pain, even when there’s nothing visible to be seen. Like with everything else medically-related in life, every person is different and symptoms may persist in different ways for each person. What’s important is to ensure you’re taking proper steps to care for your feet to avoid these issues.

What can you do to prevent some of these issues? Well, the preventative steps will seem somewhat obvious but you’d be surprised at how many people seem to overlook them. First and foremost, control your damn blood sugars! That should be obvious for a variety of important reasons, not only foot health. But least of all, you should be checking your feet on a daily basis. Since Diabetics may have lessened sensation in the feet, wounds and blisters may not always be felt. I sit down to put on socks and shoes every morning, and perform a cursory check of both feet to ensure I don’t have wounds that I may have incurred that I wasn’t aware of. You want to ensure that your footwear and socks fit properly, not too tightly, and are in good condition and clean. The clean part relates to your socks, which some people have a propensity for re-wearing socks for more than a day. This is a bad idea, given the potential bacteria you may be introducing into cuts or sores from extended wearing of socks. Change ‘em up on a daily basis and make sure they aren’t too tight, limiting an already limited blood flow.

Make sure your shoes fit well, are comfortable and don’t exert pressure or tightness against any areas of your feet. The insoles of your shoes should be in good condition and prevent rubbing against your feet to cause blisters. Wash your feet daily. I mean, you should be doing that regardless but keeping your feet clean and properly moisturized are important steps to maintaining proper foot health. Consistent exercise to help maintain blood flow can also be important. You should avoid ripping off calluses or corns yourself, or walking around bare-footed (as much as I love doing this). All it takes is one step on your kid’s LEGO block to cause a wound that will trigger a negative chain of foot-related events that you won’t want to deal with. Last but not least, trim your toenails properly and make sure there are no sharp edges or ingrown nails.

Diabetes Canada has a great checklist that covers a lot of this. You can access it here. A lot of what’s described above should be things that you’re doing regardless. Proper exercise, controlling blood sugars and daily cleaning and washing being among the most prominent. So, while it may seem tedious to be doing so much to maintain proper foot health, it’s really just an inclusion to what you should already be doing to stay healthy. Type-1 Diabetes is a life-long condition; one that will eventually do me in, I’m sure. But I have no intention of making it easy or going down without a fight. This is why it’s so important to maintain these bodily systems and ensure your feet are there to carry you around for the foreseeable future. Food for thought… ☯️

Put A Smile Into Your Health…

This feels like one of those posts where I should clarify that I’m not a doctor or health professional, and I base the content of my posts on personal experience and my own, independent research that I find online. So, read at your own leisure but take it for grain of salt until you can consult your own healthcare professional. There it is. Now, on with the post… For most of our lives, we’ve been told to brush our teeth. This seems like a pretty common and obvious hygiene practice, and is societally expected among other things like wearing deodorant and showering. But in the busy hustle of life, brushing one’s teeth can be one of the most easily overlooked hygiene practices, even in the western world. In looking up information for this post, which was triggered by my wife and children attending scheduled dental visits, it was difficult to find anything definitive on the origins of brushing one’s teeth. The one common theme among the varying sources I read, is that the practice is actually several thousands of years old, with people using “chew sticks,” which are twigs or branches taken from certain trees. These wooden pieces would fray once snapped, making a small, makeshift brush.

Prior to that, ancient humans ate a diet mostly consisting of plants and fruits, and this high-fiber diet would promote proper oral hygiene, eliminating the need to brush. But things have changed since then, which probably explains why I ALWAYS get that one strand of meat stuck in that same spot, every time I eat a strip loin. Bloody hell… But I digress… It wouldn’t be until the early decades of the twentieth century that the modern day toothbrush would make an appearance and daily brushing became not only the norm but the expected societal standard to make sure your breath won’t stop a clock. But some of the practices and the understanding we have behind proper oral hygiene has changed over recent decades. As a child, I was essentially told to brush my teeth three times a day; after each meal but certainly upon waking and before bed. Sometimes, because snacking is a must, brushing a fourth time happened. As a child, I had no dental issues but yet I always had the dental hygienist bitching at me to brush more or floss better. The constant nagging made it so that I developed a sincere dislike for the dentist’s office as a child.

When I was younger, the premise was simple. If you don’t brush your teeth, you’ll get cavities and lose your teeth. Full stop. That was the concern. Your breath will smell bad and your teeth will fall out. If you want to successfully eat independently for years to come, make sure you keep brushing and flossing. Pretty simple premise and makes a lot of sense. On the surface. But research over the past couple decades have peeled back the onion, or the proverbial gum line if you will, and have shown that there is a lot more inherent risk to poor oral hygiene than simply losing one’s teeth. Not only have connections been made to things like gum disease and periodontitis, but since the gums have connections to your circulatory system, there are also implications for heart and organ health, Diabetes complications and allowing increased bacterial strains entering the bloodstream and infecting you in various ways. Imagine getting a heart attack or having a stroke because you didn’t brush your teeth?

According to an article posted by the Mayo Clinic, “Like other areas of the body, the mouth is full of germs. Those germs are mostly harmless. But the mouth is the entry to the digestive tract. […] The mouth also is the entry to the organs that allow breathing, called the respiratory tracts. So sometimes germs in the mouth can lead to disease throughout the body.” SO, the bottom line is that your mouth is an open, easy access for germs and bacteria to access other areas and systems within your body. The article goes on to say, “Most often the body’s defenses and good oral care keep germs under control. Good oral care includes daily brushing and flossing. Without good oral hygiene, germs can reach levels that might lead to infections, such as tooth decay and gum disease.” This means that poor oral hygiene or not brushing your teeth enough can contribute to far, far more serious issues than simply just your teeth falling out.

What does this mean for me and my fellow Type-1 Diabetics? Well, the reality is that as a Diabetic, my body’s immune system is basically there but not doing its job, making my body’s immune system far more susceptible to infections and less capable of fighting them effectively. This means that if some of the nasty that percolates in the ol’ mouth makes its way into my system, the results can be far more dire than for the average joe. This makes proper oral hygiene and teeth brushing all the more important for me. The article does describe issues for Diabetics, as follows, “Diabetes makes the body less able to fight infection. So diabetes can put the gums at risk. Gum disease seems to happen more often and be more serious in people who have diabetes. Research shows that people who have gum disease have a harder time controlling their blood sugar levels. Regular dental care can improve diabetes control.”

Imagine your blood sugars being off because you don’t brush your teeth enough? This can be a real possibility. Although I’ve always done my best to try and stay consistent with brushing my teeth, I don’t always have time to run floss and there are busy days at work where I can admit that I don’t get to brushing for an actual day. I’ve been wondering if, over the past couple of years, this may have contributed to my bronchitis and pneumonia issues that I’ve faced, since the Mayo Clinic’s article does explain that some germs can make their way into the lungs and contribute to pneumonia and other respiratory issues. So, this may be a possibility. I can guarantee that I’ve upped my game in this area. It’s a bit difficult to rationalize losing weight, exercising, eating well and monitoring/controlling my blood sugars with a fine tooth comb to help combat the symptoms of my condition, yet something as simple as consistent oral hygiene gets ignored.

So, what is consistent oral hygiene, and how much should you be doing? The prevailing thought these days is that you should be brushing your teeth a minimum of twice a day. This is done for about two minutes each session, using a soft-bristled toothbrush to prevent irritating and damaging your gum line. During my son’s most recent dental visit, it was recommended that if you can only brush your teeth once during the day, it should be right before bed. This makes sense, as it ensures that you’re not allowing food remnants and bacteria to sit and do as they will all night while sleeping. Flossing daily, using floss or a “water flosser” is important, as there will always be food remnants between teeth that won’t be removed by brushing. I, myself, have a water pick, which is interesting and a different means of flossing one’s teeth. It apparently has the benefit of getting at more areas and cleaning between the teeth better than traditional floss, IF you can get the hang of it. While I stick to traditional floss, when I take the extra time to use the water flosser, I usually end up making a mess more than anything else.

Be sure to replace your toothbrush ever three to four months. This is, I’m certain, the one aspect people seem to overlook the most. While you should replace your toothbrush as soon as it begins to become worn or the bristles start to flare out away from the center of the brush, most people will usually hold on to a brush for far longer than they should. Keep in mind that this bad boy is being ground into the area of the mouth containing food particles and bacteria, and there’s no easy and effective way to clean one’s toothbrush. Oh sure, there are UV trays that apparently disinfect and clean toothbrushes. I don’t know how effective these are or if they actually work, but it’s likely more cost effective to just splurge on a two-dollar toothbrush every few months than paying for some gimmicky device to clean it. Avoiding things that stain your teeth, like red wine and/or tobacco products is recommended. Even though we all dislike being in the magic chair and trying to answer questions with someone’s fingers and dental tools in one’s mouth, yearly dental visits at minimum should be considered, since dental professionals will have the tools and ability to clean areas that you may not get access to, from home.

They also have the ability to help with the removal of dental plaque and provide fluoride and other treatments to help with overall oral health. Don’t forget that dentists are medical professionals and will have the ability to assess and treat potential dental conditions or gum disease, which, based on what I described above, becomes critically important. Not only to preventing all the nasty stuff like heart conditions and stroke that the article describes, but also to help with proper Diabetes and blood sugar control. And given that I’ve caught pneumonia and bronchitis for the past two years that have seen me hacking and on meds for a couple of months a shot, I’ll be paying significantly deeper attention to my proper oral hygiene. All other things aside, I plan on sticking around for decades to come. I’d like to do it with my teeth intact. Nothing sucks more than trying to eat a steak through a straw. Food for thought… ☯️

Making Type-1 Diabetes my B%&ch…

Anyone who’s read a number of my blog posts will know that it’s pretty clear that Type-1 Diabetes carries a number of complications that can make a person’s life a living hell. The routine stuff, for the most part, has become so routine for me over the past four and half decades that I’m ABLE to call it routine. But there’s no arguing that T1D basically affects absolutely EVERYTHING in one’s life and has an influence on everything I do, from working, sleeping, eating and even my relationships. More on that last one some other time, but the bottom line is that with the exception of organ failure or amputation, I’ve seen it all, done it all and have suffered through it all. By virtue of this, Diabetes has yet to throw something at me that I haven’t met head on and overcome. This was a solemn promise I made to myself in my early teens, when I realized I would need to take my own health in hand in order to live into adulthood.

About ten years ago, a slightly different kind of Diabetic complication landed on my plate. As a matter of routine, I had a yearly ophthalmologist appointment to clear my eyes. This was generally done at the request of the Force, to ensure my vision was clear. I had a particular doctor that I had been seeing for almost five years at this point, so I was a bit surprised when I was met with his partner in the eye clinic, instead. He explained that some patient files had been passed to him as my previous doctor was moving on to different projects. Okay, fair enough. I’ve never been a big fan of changing doctors or even changing meds, when it’s happened. In my experience, doing so almost always results in “rocking the boat,” and basically fucking up the nice, healthy balance I maintain in my life. But it would turn out that this one change would not only lead to the identification of this complication but would lead to its treatment.

During this exam, I was asked if I had noticed my vision blurring. Being a police officer in the field with Diabetes made this a difficult question to answer, given that shift work, fatigue and fluctuating blood sugars would all affect my vision. But as it turned out, I had developed a condition known as Diabetic Macular Edema. For those of you who haven’t read my previous posts, Diabetic Macular Edema is a condition where fluid begins building up behind the back of the eye, around the macula, which is what controls how your vision focuses. When this fluids builds up, it causes swelling at the back of the eye that can lead to all sorts of vision and eyesight complications. The link to a HealthLine post above will provide further context, but this condition usually occurs as the result of poorly controlled or high blood sugars, something that I had in abundance before I took my health in hand. There are a few treatments, including but not limited to laser treatments for the retinopathy aspect (which I’ve had) and injectable medications that teat the swelling, which was what was needed next.

I’m not gonna lie here, folks… I’m usually pretty good at acting like a tough guy, shuffling off scary stuff and ignoring pain. And up to that point, I have had needles in just about every area of my body. Except my fucking eyes! For what was probably the first time in my life, I was frightened of what would come next. Based on the doctor’s explanation, I needed these injections to maintain my eyesight. But I couldn’t ignore the thought of a needle sliding into a part of my body that wasn’t meant to be pierced. I mean, conceptually, NO part of the human body is “meant” to be pierced… But getting a needle in the eyes is something that up to that point, I had only seen in horror movies. One can see how this might have fed my anxiety. Setting my fears aside, I made the appointment, booked the time off work and booked my very first hotel room in the city, since my wife and I had just recently had our first child and she couldn’t join me. I would need to stay in the city overnight since I would be effectively blind, as it relates to operating a vehicle, especially after dark.

That first appointment came with a slew of stress and anxiety, which did nothing to help some of the pre-procedure tests I needed. Did you know that heart rate and stress affects your eye pressure? I sure found out. My vision was a touch below normal, even with normal blood sugars and my prescription glasses on, which prompted further confirmation that I needed this treatment. Once I was in the chair for the injections, the doctor walked me through the steps and proceeded to put eye clamps in to keep my eyesight open. Ever seen the movie “Clockwork Orange?” That messed up scene where they clamp his eyesight open and force him to watch stuff? Picture that, but without the psychological torture. The worst part is that you’re awake, your eyes can move and in fact, you NEED to move them in order to look in a specific direction to allow the doctor to inject into the white part of your eyes. All that build-up and anxiety for it all to be over in about thirty seconds. Reminds me of my teens (if you know, you know). But all jokes aside, it was painful, no question.

What followed was a blur (literally) of booking the next appointment and stumbling my way back across a public park to my hotel. I stretched out on the bed with all the lights closed and tried to nap intermittently as the freezing drops wore off and the full extent of the pain kicked in. For hours after, I could see shapes, colors and general outlines, allowing me to make my way down to the quaint, Irish pub located on the ground floor. I spent my evening there, nursing my pain with the only type of “painkiller” I had available. This had been the routine for the past decade. Now, it’s become such a routine that the sting is almost imperceptible. If it weren’t; for the loss of vision keeping me from driving, I wouldn’t even need to stay in the city afterwards. But in the beginning, i had to get the injections every four weeks and in most cases, some of the swelling had returned by that fourth week. Over time, with better controlled blood sugars (I had recently started pumping therapy around this time), consistent exercise and keeping a firm grip on the reins of my health, those periods began to stretch. Every five weeks, then six, seven and so on. With every new, longer interval, I felt a small twinge of personal victory.

My last appointment was a 14-week interval. It took a long time to get me to that point and it was the longest I’ve gone without getting the injections. Given some recent headaches and blurriness, I fully expected to go in to my appointment with the announcement that some swelling had returned and we needed to claw me back to 13 weeks. But lo and behold, my scans were completely clean. No swelling at all. My doctor opted to push me all the way to 16 weeks, which is the longest interval possible on this medication. If I can make it to 16 weeks without any swelling returning, we’ll be re-assessing my treatment and deciding if I’ll stay at 16 weeks indefinitely, or if I’ll come off the injections entirely, with scheduled follow-ups to ensure the swelling doesn’t return. Needless to say and right before the holidays, this makes for one of the best Christmas gifts I could imagine getting.

The bottom line and despite that this is good news, the point of today’s post is to illustrate that when one takes heir own health in hand, in tandem with properly trained medical practitioners, they can make a significant difference in the maintenance of one’s health and the potential outcome of certain treatments. While I fully admit that there are things that simply can’t be healed or treated, there’s a lot that can and it’s important to give yourself and your body the best fighting chance to be in good health and live a happy life. For myself, and as much as I’ve been enjoying my little Irish pub, I’ll certainly look forward to a break from traveling and being away from home overnight. And, you know, getting fuckin’ needles in my eyes… Food for thought… ☯️

Off Warranty, And Lacking Replacement Parts…

I’m sure many of you can relate… It’s early morning. Your soft alarm goes off and you groggily click it off. You yawn and stretch and roll slightly, feeling creaks and pops in your joints that you don’t recall being there before. You make your way out of bed and slowly walk to the shower, noticing the chill on the morning soaking through to your bones. Once under the shower head, you let the warm water revive some articulation and relieve some of the aches from the previous day. You slowly trudge through your morning routine with the same amount of speed as a sloth trying to climb a tree. Sound somewhat familiar?

I often look back fondly at my twenties and remember the almost surreal ability I had to train for absolute hours on end, sweating and core temp skyrocketing… Performing line after line of full contact shadow boxing up the length of the dojo, doing dozens of katas, one after another, staying on my knuckles for 20 minutes at a time or in a horse stance for half an hour without missing a beat… This was usually followed by grabbing a shower and hitting the town, either for a game of pool with friends or a quiet coffee and soup at the local coffee shop while making my way through the latest book in the “Wheel of Time” series. The speed, reflexes and ability to recover I maintained was almost supernatural, despite being Type-1 Diabetic AND despite my blood sugars never being quite as well balanced as they are today. By the light, times have changed…

In the past couple of years, I’ve come to acknowledge a couple of hard truths; that I can’t maintain fitness to the level I did twenty years ago, which should go without saying, and, it takes me far, far longer to recover. While the stubborn part of me would love to knuckle down and say “Hell no, we won’t go,” and keep pushing just as hard as I always have, that’s just not a fair reality for me anymore. I recognize that I’m saying this while simultaneously remembering that Sensei is in his 70’s and easily puts me to shame, in the physical activity department. But I digress… The point is, I’ve grown older and as we grow older, the body’s ability to heal and recover effectively begins to diminish. This is why adults will often complain about the cracks and pops they never noticed there before. None of this has been quite as obvious as it has been for me, over the past few months.

AT some point earlier in the year, and I can’t recall exactly when, I started to notice a twinge in my right shoulder. It was subtle, at first. A bit of difficulty scrubbing my back using that hand, or a slight pain when I would reach a high cupboard. I chalked it up to having slept wrong or just tired muscles. MOST workouts were reasonable uninterrupted as a result. But over the course of a couple of months, the pain worsened and mobility in my right arm depended, to the point where I actually ordered a shoulder brace for some of those more extreme workouts. As an aside, the shoulder brace I found was one designed specifically with sports and martial arts in mind. It’s made by a company called Anaconda Fightwear, and their stuff is pretty good. If you’re interested in a braces for almost any of your joints, you can check out their website here. My shoulder brace has been a life saver, especially when I’m performing a lot of the circle blocks or techniques that I need through karate.

Once I recognized the need for external support just to do the things I’d been doing for decades, I started to contemplate the usual; appointment with the chiropractor, massage therapist, acupuncturist, etc. Anything more extreme or medical would come as a second step. But as is often the case in adult life, time passed and busy schedules dominated and I didn’t get to the chiropractor until about three months ago. Now, chiropractic medicine gets a bad rap from a lot of people. Some of this is born out of fear of having one’s joints (especially the neck) cracked. Some of it is because of one-offs where someone with something pre-existing may have had it aggravated by a chiropractic adjustment. Whatever the case, I’ve yet to have a chiropractor’s visit where I don’t feel better afterwards. The first time I went to the chiropractor was back in 2010. The relief that flowed through me after my adjustment almost brought me to tears. But once I again, I digress…

My point is, my shoulder was examined and it was determined that I may have weakened muscles in the shoulder that are limiting my mobility. Not an uncommon thing for a decades-long martial artist who is getting up there in age. Although not yet what one might consider a senior, my body’s ability to heal is less than it was, even a few years ago, so here we are. The solution? A set of simple body movement exercises to try and build back some strength in the stabilizing muscles of the shoulder. That lasted all of a couple of weeks. Towards the end, the exercises themselves became too painful and I needed to find an alternative. Going back to the chiropractor a few weeks ago, a deeper, more extensive examination of my shoulder was done. It was determined that I had a condition called “frozen shoulder.”

So, what the hell is frozen shoulder? Well, according to an article by the Mayo Clinic, whose web link I’ve conveniently lost, frozen shoulder, also called “adhesive capsulitis,” is a condition where the connective muscles and tissues in the shoulder thicken and tighten around the shoulder joint, causing limited range of motion and pain. While it’s not exceptionally rare, people over 40 and who have certain conditions like, oh, say, DIABETES, are at higher risk. Great. Thanks, T1D! One more issue on the checklist. The treatment is pretty simple; movement. yes, you read that right. Range-of-motion exercises, working the shoulder and on occasion, some pain-numbing medications injected into the joints. But, it does take years for it to completely recover. The article goes on. To explain that it’s unusual for frozen shoulder to come back to the same shoulder, so I guess THAT’S good.

Why do they call it “frozen shoulder?” As described in the article from Mayo, which I managed to find here, it hits in three stages:

  • Freezing stage. Any movement of the shoulder causes pain, and the shoulder’s ability to move becomes limited. This stage lasts from 2 to 9 months.
  • Frozen stage. Pain might lessen during this stage. However, the shoulder becomes stiffer. Using it becomes more difficult. This stage lasts from 4 to 12 months.
  • Thawing stage. The shoulder’s ability to move begins to improve. This stage lasts from 5 to 24 months.

When looked at from this perspective, it paints a long, bleak picture of recovery. While this falls under the category of “this could be worse,” y’all know just how much I love hearing THAT. If you do the math on this, I’m looking at nearly four years to recover, bearing in mind that everyone is different. The good news is that I appear to have passed the freezing stage. After that initial chiropractor visit and the subsequent working of the joint and the pain it accompanied, I head a couple of weeks of limited mobility in the shoulder and neck that saw me walking around like a fucking robot. You don’t realize just how much you need the supportive muscles in your neck until you can’t use them. Sitting, lying down and even rolling over in your sleep becomes an extremely painful prospect. And when every movement during the night jolts you awake in pain, your rest goes to shit, so your recovery is lengthened even further. But i seem to have a fair mobility back in most areas, with only a bit of limited mobility in the shoulder with very little pain. Looks like I’m at the frozen stage. Yay.

Growing older is a part of life. There’s no getting away from it or getting out of it. That’s why it is so critically important to maintain one’s physical fitness, nutrition and getting proper rest. That will go a long way towards ensuring that you can ride off into the sunset with some reasonable constitution left, as opposed to a lump of scarred, immobile old man crankiness. I mean, let’s be honest, I’m still ticking that very last box with the crankiness but that’s a whole different thing. Next week, I’ll be starting a form of vibrational shock therapy that will help to break up any potential scar tissue and potentially help with the healing process. While I’m looking forward to it, as one would expect, I’m not a fan of the whole “shock” aspect. But I’m sure it’ll be fine. Stay tuned for updates as this treatment progresses. In the meantime, I take solace in the fact that even while having had Type-1 Diabetes for 43 years at this point, my organs are in great health, my blood sugars are phenomenal and even my eye injections have been spaced out to fourteen weeks. Not too shabby. I’d say I’m doing quite well. ☯️

Let the Hate Flow Through You…

Okay, so it’s probably a bit odd that I’m quoting from the original Star Wars trilogy for a post that touches on something a bit more philosophical and important but in my defense, wisdom and knowledge can often arise from the most unlikely places. So, take for what it is. As someone who studies Buddhism (yes, I still do, despite the fewer posts on the topic) I recognize that the world has suffering. One of the most important precepts is to eliminate that suffering, in order to live a happier, more fruitful and satisfying life. This isn’t always an easy thing, especially in modern times. The type and frequency of the world’s stressors only seems to be increasing. It can make things difficult to navigate, especially when one succumbs to one of the most difficult to navigate emotions; anger.

Anger is insidious. And it tends to creep in at the most unexpected times for the most ridiculous reasons. red light not turning to green quickly enough? Anger. Boss adds another project on your plate during your days off? Anger. Your kids eat the last of your Skittles right before you need them to treat a low? Anger. Accidentally stub your toe on the corner of a wall that’s always been there and is absolutely on one’s fault but your own? Inappropriate levels of rage and anger… It seems to strike more than the average person cares to think about and the issue with that, is that anger eventually does cause physical and psychological damage, over time. On the physical side, constant anger will lead to health issues like increased blood pressure, cardiac issues, stomach ulcers. On the psychological side, poor thoughts, depression, lack of motivation, to name a few. And let’s not forget that nasty vices one may undertake in order to forget or forego one’s anger. Or realistically, we think we do it to “relax.” In reality, we try to stem our angry emotions.

Without a proper outlet, anger can lead to a number of negative results in one’s life, outside of the direct effects on oneself. Someone who is constantly angry may be perceived as difficult or unpleasant to be around. Anger in the workplace can lead to damaged working relationships, perceived poor performance and if you happen to be in a position of authority, extremely poor perception by your staff. At home and in your personal life, a near-constant state of anger can damage relationships, create a toxic home environment and alienate the very people around you who could potentially help stem some of those angry thoughts. I’m making it sound like everyone is walking around like the hulk and it likely isn’t this bad for everyone, but the key is recognizing that anger. One may find themselves a bit surprised at how often this emotion seeps in without notice or warning.

Miyamoto Musashi, one of my favorite writers and author of “The Book of Five Rings,” a famous book on strategy, touched on anger in his book. While I won’t be quoting the book directly (you can find ebook versions of it through Kobo starting at $0.99), his thoughts veered more on the concept that one should recognize and acknowledge anger as it builds, as opposed to waiting and recognizing that one IS angry. Musashi wrote that loss of control over one’s anger, especially towards others, means that the other person has a control over you. If you allow anger to creep its way in during a given situation, it can also allow one’s potential adversaries to note your vulnerabilities, your weaknesses and allow them to take advantage of you or make you a potential target for those who mean to do you harm.

The trick to anger is to control it before it controls you. Some of it is as simple as starting by recognizing that most situations, if not all, are not worth getting angry about. Do you think that person who cut you off at the intersection has spent the rest of the morning contemplating how they cut you off? Of course not. They likely forgot you as soon as the sound from your car horn died down. Despite this, if they live rent free in your head for hours after the incident, this is a clear sign that you’re allowing anger to control the most minimal events of your life. This makes it an obstacle to peace as opposed to an elimination of suffering. And as I’ve often said before and I don’t know about y’all, but I have a strong dislike of suffering. I’m all about trying to find that peace.

Instead, when one begins to feel that anger bubbling up to the surface, it becomes important to find ways to harness and channel that energy into something productive or useful. By channeling and harnessing one’s anger, it can become an important tool for discipline, training and achieving one’s goals. It can be aimed for a positive purpose as opposed to exploding or erupting out of you like an uncontrollable tempest that threatens to damage you and/or those in your environment. By using it as a positive tool, you can also acknowledge that anger is normal. A perfectly normal and expected human emotion that everyone experiences. It isn’t about having that emotion that’s bad. It’s what you do with it. How you allow it to affect you.

If you find yourself in a position where anger is slowly starting to rise to the surface and you have no means of channeling or using it, there are ways to control it. Deep breathing exercises or meditation can be valuable tools in ensuring that your anger doesn’t bubble over into something negative. And will ultimately help in eliminating the suffering within your life. And at the end of the day, finding peace will not only help maintain your health and promote a happier, fuller life but will also allow that energy to be shared or passed on to others. As the old saying goes, don’t sweat the small stuff. Food for thought…☯️

Routines Good, Habits Bad…

People live their daily lives based on their habits and routines. One may be inclined to wonder “what’s the difference?” Well, there are some integral differences that can drive whether what you’re doing is helpful to yourself or not. A habit is loosely defiined as something you do without thought. For example, picking your nose or chewing your nails would be a habit. Making a point to work out for thirty minutes every day after work would be a routine. I’m using pretty one-sided examples to illustrate my point. But ultimately, habits don’t generally become part of one’s routine, although if you perform your routines with enough focus and intention, they will eventually become habit. This can be the difference between bad habits and good.

Something Sensei had explained to me over the summer during my last visit resonated and stuck with me. In his 70’s, Sensei still very much reflects the man I always knew him to be. He wakes in the morning and engages in routines that promote his continued health and ability to remain independent and moving. This includes proper nutrition, fitness and exercising, including but not limited to cycling, house work and of course, consistent karate training. He’s never really lapsed in that department and he is still at a stage where he would be effective against opponents several decades his junior. He can do this because he uses discipline and intent to ensure he maintains his routines, and while they may have become habit, they’re not without effort. After all, the human body, much like water, tends to take the path of least resistance.

Habits can be bad because they often bring you to a slump in your daily routine. AND they can be much harder to stop, once you have them. Routines are the opposite. They take effort and sheer force of will to start and maintain, but once they become habit, they can still be difficult to maintain, since they require effort. Habits usually do not. Some simple examples. Every Tuesday and Thursday when work finishes, you and a few of your work colleagues tend to hit up a local pub for a couple of pints. You end up eating some bar food, maybe some wings or fries, followed by making your way home. Since you’re full and carbo-loaded, you’ll likely slump down on the couch and binge-watch a few episodes of your favorite show then make your way to bed for a quasi-deep, alcohol-assisted sleep. This is an easy habit, easy to get into and with little or no excuse on the person’s behalf to prevent of refuse to participate.

Now, let’s look at a routine. Let’s say you decide to take it upon yourself to wake up an hour earlier on a given morning and go running. You work up a good sweat, get a few miles in and get your heart pumping first thing in the morning. You get home, cold but sweaty, and work your way through your list of pre-work items, including but not limited to showering, dressing and packing a lunch for the day. You leave the house and hit the ground running. You feel energized, motivated and decide that this will be the new routine. Then, your day ends. You get home from work, struggle through your evening meal, maybe take care of the dishes, spend a bit of time with the spouse and kids before falling into a deep, exhausted sleep. While you may have initially hoped to make the routine of that morning a standing one, the following morning has you feeling groggy, tired, cold and wanting nothing more than to stay in bed for the added hour where it’s warm, comfortable and you don’t have to do anything. You decide that since you went running yesterday, you can likely take a “break day,” and hit it hard the following morning. You skip the routine you intentionally began. It’s all downhill from here.

The discipline and effort that’s required to maintain any good routine doesn’t come easily. And since the human body prefers to take it slow and easy, it’s much, much easier to skip things and just relax than it is to stick with any measurable routine. The thing about routines, is that even once you’ve gotten into it enough to make it a habit, it only takes once or twice to skip it, omit it from your day or decide not to do it, for it to break the routine and have to start all over. And the irony is that the same amount of discipline and effort will be required to start it up again, even if you’ve been there before. Which sucks. This is why you want to ensure you maintain those routines and avoid skipping days, negating your routines and allowing apathy to seep in are detrimental to one’s overall health. Like being able to get up in the morning and hit the ground running? Enjoy having reasonable energy levels and flexibility? Being able to continue doing all the things you enjoy doing, even in old age? Then you need to stick to your routines. Break your bad habits but foster your healthy routines. As Sensei has often told me, only you can manage your health. Food for thought… ☯️

November 2025

Well, here we are again. In a few days, November 1st will be upon us and this means that I will start growing out a ‘satchel for Movember. I do this every year and I also seek out donations, every year. It’s been several years where I’ve done it as part of a team, either during my time with the RCMP or since moving on to my current role. In my current role, we hit the ground running in 2021 with a team that was pretty committed and we raised over $500 just among ourselves. During 2022, the allure and gimmick of joining Movember flickered out, and we only raised just shy over $400. Last year and in 2023, I pretty much threw in the towel in terms of having a team effort and recognized I was once again walking this road alone. So, why do I keep doing it? This, dear readers, is the important question…

During the month of November, I set aside my reluctance to ask others for anything, and begin asking donations to support Movember. While the usual trend includes growing a resplendent mustache through the month and posting before and after photos, I always take it one step farther and grow out an entire beard (much to my wife’s dismay). By the end of November, I look more like a yeti than my usual self, but charity means sacrifice, so the scratchy face can be managed for the period of one calendar month. As I do every year, I should probably explain what the hell Movember is, and why it’s so important.

Movember is a registered charity in Canada that holds an annual challenge as a way to raise funds and awareness for prostate and testicular cancer, which is diagnosed in more than 1.4 million men globally, each year. While I have participated as part of a team in recent years, this year, I will be tackling it alone. Despite this obstacle, I’m keeping my previous year’s goal of $500 and feel that this is easily achievable, if I have a few kind readers who would be willing to pitch in a small amount. Even a little help can go a long way and any donation you make will do just that. We live in a society of increasing costs, inflation and increased cost of living, so I fully understand that times are tight for everyone. But I really can’t oversell how important this cause is. The cause is near and dear to me, especially since my beloved, departed grandfather had prostate cancer. Even the smallest donation you make can help with the bottom line.

Donating has never been easier. You can donate directly online by visiting the Movember website and clicking on the black “Donate” button at the top of the screen. Search under “Find a Person or Team“ and type in “Shawn Arlington Cook” and you should find me easily. Not sure why my ugly mug doesn’t appear as my profile pic, but you can scroll through the photos and see it. Fill out the donation form and you’ve done your part. You can even get a tax receipt, if needed or wanted. I don’t wander social media much and I never ask anything of others, so I’m hoping I’ll have a few people on my friends list and contacts, my blog readers and some family, who will help and contribute to this very important cause. Here’s the webpage: Movember Canada. No pressure and no expectation on my part. But I will be sincerely thankful and appreciative for any donation or contribution that anyone makes. 🙏 ☯️

You Only Did Thirty Minutes…?

Look, working out is hard. It is. Even if you’re one of those freaks who absolutely LOVES their 5 a.m. run through the neighborhood, the effort and discipline required to haul your sleepy ass out of bed and make it out the door into the morning chill is usually more than what the average person can put up with. And I should know; I absolutely LOVE karate, but finding the time, will and balanced blood sugars to get through a couple of hours, twice a week, in order to stay consistent is tough. That’s why one sometimes needs to take baby steps. Habitually, and for the most part, my wife and I are quite adept at carrying out brief, 30-minute workout circuits together. While it might not sound like a lot, for the purposes of a workout, 30 minutes allows us to get our cardiovascular efforts in, break a significant sweat together and gain that tell-tale ache in our muscles of a job well done. This begs the question; are we doing enough?

According to an article by the Mayo Clinic, the average person should aim to get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a weekor 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week. This total can be spread out into smaller chunks throughout the week. So, we’re talking about a workout that gets your heart pumping. The article goes on to say that you should “Do strength training exercises for all major muscle groups at least two times a week. One set of each exercise is enough for health and fitness benefits. Use a weight or resistance level heavy enough to tire your muscles after about 12 to 15 repetitions.” Further, it specifies that “As a general goal, aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day.” Okay, perfect! This means that the 30-minutes allows us circuit workouts that my wife and I hammer out together on the weekends meet the mark and is all we need, right? Well, maybe not…

If you’re carrying on your fitness activities with the end goal of losing weight , keeping the weight off or achieving specific fitness goals, this minimalist approach may not be adequate. And sitting for prolonged periods of time can be horrendous on your overall fitness and goals. This should be pretty intuitive but you’d be surprised, and I’m guilty of this myself, how much time people spend on their ass, either working, binging television or in their leisure activities. I lose count of how much time I spend sitting when I’m out to coffee with friends or binge-watching new episodes of Grey’s Anatomy with my wife. Not so great for fitness goals and can actually aggravate or undo some of the fitness achievements you’ve reached. But that isn’t the goal of today’s post. Today’s post is about length and frequency of working out. So, let’s get to the important question: Are my current 30-minute workouts worth it?

The short answer is yes. As most leading health practitioners and fitness experts will tell you, any activity is better than no activity. Another obstacle/hurdle, at least for me, is the fact that as I get older, the energy levels and ability to maintain the same level of fitness as I did even just five years ago, has altered significantly. Sensei would likely cuff me on the back of the head if he reads this, considering that in his seventies, he is very much the image of fitness. More so than someone at my age or younger. Frankly, he puts most people to shame. That being said, ensuring I reach that couple of hours’ total throughout the week CAN be challenging. My body’s propensity for letting the blood sugar drop about twenty minutes before I get home certainly doesn’t help matters. This leads to more evenings than not, where I find myself wolfing down food when I get home as opposed to taking the half hour needed to burn some calories and get a sweat on. The struggle is real…

At the end of the day, all of this starts with you. Unlike most people, I don’t subscribe to the thought that one needs to be motivated in order to workout. That is a whole lot of nonsensical bullshit, right there! You need to be disciplined. Period. Start. Do something. Only do ten minutes of running in your backyard? Good for you. Twenty minutes of doing some weight reps? Fantastic. An hour of wrestling and rolling around on the floor with your kids? Even better. Develop and maintain the discipline to do SOMETHING. Once that discipline is in place, the motivation will follow. It can’t happen in the other direction. That’s an important detail, and most people fail to understand this. For me, going back to the days of 2-hour karate workouts several times a week are likely dead and gone. Type-1 Diabetes and my overall age and health just won’t allow it any longer. If I tried, I likely wouldn’t have the energy and ability to deal with, you know… work, kids, life… But I can guarantee that I’m going to keep pushing workouts and exercise. As often as I can, for as long as I can. They’ll have to pull my cold, dead corpse away from the mats because my health is important, as it supports everything else. So, take care of yours, as well. Unless you’re healthy and capable, you’ll find yourself unable to do any of the other things in life that may be important. Food for thought… ☯️

The Spouse Is In The House, So Grab Your Boxing Gloves…

There’s a saying that I’ve often heard, although it changes with particular situations, that couples who [BLANK] together, stay together. And no, that blank is not a typo. It changes with the given situation. In this case, my thought is that couples who work out together, stay together. While that isn’t the only driving force behind staying together (obviously), there’s nothing more satisfying than getting a solid work out in with your spouse. The awesomeness of working up a sweat, getting healthy and getting that post-work out tired feeling together is something that can bring couples closer to each other and allow them to share something they wouldn’t otherwise; their overall health and fitness. For me, the decades have proved difficult in trying to have anyone I’ve been involved with, work out with me. In previous years, that was an obvious obstacle as my fitness time was usually limited to inside a dojo. But even in situations where I had someone I was dating or involved with joining the dojo, it usually didn’t work out well.

Even once I found myself outside the dojo and involved with someone, training in karate with a non-karate practitioner has some inherent problems. They won’t know the techniques. They won’t know the forms. If you hope to get a full workout, you’ll be going too fast and doing too much for any rational beginner to follow along. It can make it tough. And if you stop or slow down long enough to explain, you essentially burn through your workout time teaching instead of training. It can be frustrating and difficult for both parties, to be sure. But if you can be lucky enough to have a spouse or partner who is willing to work out with you, there’s lots that you can do to enjoy the experience together. If you insist on doing a karate workout, you’ll can limit it to kicking and punching drills, squats, jumping jacks, balance exercises… Lots of things that the two of you can do that won’t have to involve teaching some specifics to your respective exercise mate. Other possibilities are riding bicycles together, going for a job, doing weight sets… Or maybe, just maybe, you can expand your horizons and go to a class and learn something TOGETHER.

For me, I’m lucky in that my wife and I will often exercise together. While I don’t teach her mainstream karate, we often share 30 minutes of weight workouts. I have some wonderful circuits that I’ve saved on my iPad that I can bring up that focuses specific muscle groupings. Once my wife and I have hammered through one of these, we’re usually ready for snacks and/or a nap. A few times now, we’ve shared some time on the punching bag, favoring a circuit that allows us to take turns. While one is on the bag, the other uses a jump rope or sits in a horse stance. Wonderful burn and great exercise. And one of the best results of using this methodology, is the hour you spend working out is no longer an hour away from your spouse. Instead, it’s an hour you share with them. Where you get healthier and work out together. Not only enriching and healthy, it helps to bond you and bring you closer. Sounds like a definite win-win to me.

So find your niche. Discover what works for you and your spouse or partner that will allow the two of you to focus on health, increased energy, better sleep patterns, together. The result will also be shared experiences and laughs along the way that money can’t buy. And that bonding is important. Especially in a relationship that;s intended to be for life. Food for thought… ☯️