Arg! The dreaded injury and probably poor decisions

Since July 4th of this year, I have been doing push ups and sit ups everyday. My origional goal was to do 150 of each and I started out doing them (push ups) in sets of 11 because I wasn't that strong. Over time I increased my reps to 21, 31 and finally 41. I have been doing over 160 pu and su everyday for the past 2 months or so. I was even planning on increasing my reps again to 51 on Monday.

Everything was going according to plan. Everything was going just fine until this Friday when my dreaded reaccuring injury showed up and reared it's ugly head - my back.

Now for those of you who don't know, I have a back injury. I had surgery years ago and they attached two steel rods to my spine. It has healed but still causes me problems on occasion.

One such occasion was this Friday.

Now normally I just hit the painkillers and push through it for the week or so until it gets better and I'm on my way. This time however, I have my daily quota of push ups and sit ups to fill. Friday night and Saturday night I managed to get them done, but I've been paying for it today.

And so the delemma: Do I take a day or two off and heal. Or do I push through and get 'er done?

It was such a struggle to get to where I am now with my push ups and sit ups, I'm scared to back off and risk back-sliding. I've been crawling forward ever so slowly for the past four months so the thought of having to gain back ground upsets me.

But then the logical part of me chimes in with, "So you miss a couple of days, so what? It's not going to make a difference really."

I can't stop doing them. I won't stop doing them. I've been doing them everyday for four months, during exams, weddings, funerals, bad days, good days, all days. If I miss a couple of days for this, what's to stop me from missing a couple days when I'm tired from tests, or busy with work or just don't feel like it.

So I have to keep doing them; I'm going to keep doing them.
I just have to go about it differently.

Instead of doing them (the sets) all at once and taxing my injury, I can do the sets farther apart. Maybe I can do crunchies instead of situps or smaller sets altogether. I just need to go easy and go often.

I think that'll work. I hope that'll work.

So much for probably poor decisions:)
Stupid injuries! Arg!

Hell Week

I'm just about finished my "hell week" at the U of A. Tomorrow I write my last midterm (of 6 this week) for the term. Thank goodness!!!
I'm so burnt out I can't even pretend to study anymore.
I have to say, before attending the geology program at the Uof A, I had not experienced a panic attack or had any problems dealing with exams, but now I can say I am a veteran:)
Dealing with hard core stress is something that I and my friends at school have had to learn to deal with. It can be hard though.
My friend called me this weekend while we were cramming for two major exams on Monday to tell me she was so stressed out she had thrown up six times that day. Not good.
I myself almost broke down in tears Sunday night because I was so worried about my exams.
I just keep telling myself that it'll be ok if I don't get that A I wanted, if I don't get accepted to graduate school, if I fall flat on my academic face and ruin everything, it'll be ok.

Monday was the a bad day for me. I had to write my Igneous Petrology exam (a class about igneous (volcanic) minerals) and my Petrogenesis (a class about diamonds) exam within a half hour of each other. My Petro exam was worth 25% of my final mark so I was worried. On top of that, when I woke up that morning, my cat's face had swollen up and I needed to call my sister to take him to the vet.
So after writing my exams, I rushed to the vet to see my cat. Three hours later, I left having gotten in an argument with the vet, been suckered out of $200 and my cat having healed on his own in his cat crate (he seems to be fine now thank goodness).
Worst day ever...

But after all that, my sister and brother brought me pizza and some movies and we all had a nice night. My stress started to melt away and I realized that in the grand scheme of things, tests aren't worth crying over or puking for; they're just tests.

But I have to say, it's hard finding that balance between trying to do your best at something, and letting that take away from the quality of your life. What amount of sacrifice is school worth? How highly should I value it? Right now, I'm acting like it's the most important thing in my world. Is it?

Thanks!

In honour of thanksgiving, I would like to post a few things that I am thankful for.

Thanks God for family,
for good times, good laughs and good food,
Thanks also for my car,
without which I wouldn't get far!
Thanks for my health, my wealth and my happiness,
I have everything I need to lead a good life and be a good person,
Thanks God for looking out for me!

P.S. Thanks for Kung-Fu too:)

Tai Chi Action Plan...Update

So awhile back I posted about my tai chi.
More correctly I posted about my lack of tai chi and the need to improve.

So far, my action plan has been going well.
I've been practicing it (the tai chi long form) almost everyday and I'm half way through part 4. I only have half of part 4 left to learn and I'm golden!

Now that I'm experiencing some success, I'm going to try and impliment this plan with other aspects of my training (other forms, etc). I've found the biggest boost this plan has given me is focus. I'm remembering to practice and I'm even looking forward to practicing my tai chi.

My action plan has also had an unforseen side effect...I'm starting to like doing tai chi. Who would have thought?:)