NaPodPoMo 2024 – Day 5 – Strength Changes Everything

Good day, folks. Today is day number five of Na Pod Pomo National Podcast Post Month. So, as I've said before, the objective is to post a podcast episode every day. So I'm not quite sure today's is going to count as a podcast episode. But I'm here, I'm recording, I'm showing up, I'm honoring my commitment and that's the best I can do today because I'll tell you what, I am just flat out exhausted.

So I did manage to get in a mile and a half hike today for the fall hiking spree. So I've done. I'm not sure if it's at 6 or 7. I did one hiker's choice the other day because I didn't have time to do the 1.5 mile that I did today. So I did a hiker's choice at the same park that was only a mile and I got done just after sunset.

So it was a good thing I didn't try to get out and do the longer one. But today was a beautiful, just gorgeous day. I actually saw a woman running around with a little short dress on and bare feet. And it's November 5th in Ohio. We're not in Arizona, we're not in Florida. Not unusual down there to see people walking around bare feet in November. But man, Ohio, a year ago it was snowing here and today it was 75 degrees.

So I said, you know what? I don't care how tired I am, I don't care how much I hurt. I'm going for a hike. And so, you know, I decided I'm going to name today's episode Strength Changes Everything. Now why am I calling it that? Because I really do believe that if we do things to keep ourselves strong, we're going to be a lot more resilient, we're going to fare better when we do hit, get hit with illness, and we're just better off altogether.

So I am even wearing my Strength Changes Everything T shirt. So let me just back up and show you. And you can see strength changes everything. And there's my little I voted. I voted today. It's funny because people were complaining yesterday that the lines were really long for early voting. And I thought, hm, I wonder how it's going to be at the actual polls. Well, I live in a small town and the voting was up at the high school.

I drove up there, no problem finding a parking space, walked in, not in line at all. It was just walked in, gave them my ID and I voted. And so happy to say I did vote. Now who I voted for, not going to say. Anyway, most of you that know me know probably who I voted for, but I don't think it really matters. I don't want to get into the politics of it at all.

So I'm going to get off of that topic and I'm going to come back to strength changes everything. So I have, in addition to making a commitment to do napod pomo and post every day for the next 30 days, I have made a commitment to my Reddit self care that I would do at least 20 minutes of exercise or movement every day. Now that might just be a nice easy stroll down the road and back for 20 minutes.

You know, sometimes it's not even a whole mile when I walk 20 minutes because I'm tired and I just want to get out and move. So it's so important. Even if you don't feel like it, it's important. There's actually research that shows 20 minutes of walking, even if it's just a nice leisurely stroll, can help reduce the risk of recurrence for breast cancer. Not sure about other cancers.

I just know the stats for breast cancer show that it does reduce recurrence risk, and I'm going to guess that it probably does for other types of cancers as well. And in general, exercise is good for us. We were not made to be sitting on our butts all day like we do. You know, we're sitting here in front of our computers with our heads down staring at our phones.

We're not made for that. We're made to be out and moving and breathing and getting the fresh air. And so that's what I did today. I went for a hike and I enjoyed it. I'll tell you though, I got to about the 1 mile point and my left foot started to really hurt. Every now and then, I don't know why, it just starts to hurt. And I can almost not even walk on it.

So the last half mile was just me taking it really slow, had my little hiking stick so that I could keep my balance as I was going down the hills and up the hills and that kind of thing. But I just, I took it slow and got it done. So I want to encourage you that if you have found yourself becoming more and more sedentary, I want to encourage you to do a little bit of radical self care and maybe think about making a commitment to 20 minutes a day of movement.

And if you can't do 20 minutes all at once, break it down into five minutes at a time. Do it five times four times four times five is 20. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah. I'm so tired I can't even add, subtract and multiply right now. So anyway, do what you have to do to get 20 minutes in and just be very conscious of it because it will make a difference for you.

And the next thing I want to add to my routine is I want to start doing some squats. I have this thing, there's a thing in the gym, they call it a trx and it's a rope that just hangs from the wall and you hold onto the rope and you can do push ups and pull ups and stuff on the rope and you can do squats and it holds you, gives you some stability.

So I have something similar to that hanging over my door here. It's been hanging there for, I don't know, two, three years. And I go through phases where I use it every day and then I become blind to it. You know, it's there, but for some reason I don't see it when I walk in the room. Yeah, we tend to become blind to those kinds of things when we don't really feel like doing something.

So I have to make a more conscious effort for that as well. So I'm going to encourage every one of you to do a little bit of your own radical self care and make a commitment to just 20 minutes a day. If you want to do more, great. But if you can do at least 20 minutes, I think that's really going to make a difference for you just in your overall energy and how you feel.

And it can even help your mood, especially if you get out and walk in the woods. And again, I do have a whole script written to talk to you about forest bathing. I just haven't had the energy to sit down and record it. And I have a whole nother script written about what is thriving really mean. So I've got some things lined up and over the next couple days I'm hoping to have enough rest that I can actually come to you with a lot more substance.

And one of these actual scripts that I've written up, instead of me just blabbing on and talking about whatever comes into my head, which is what I'm doing right now. So anyway, I am going to say one more time that it's not about surviving, it's about thriving. And I want to remind you to just breathe. So take a moment and just breathe and give yourself a little bit of radical self care today.

So until next time, this is Ellen Martin with the Radical RX show.