My plan had been to get through the day by taking frequent breaks, but once I got started, it seemed that the best course of action was to plow ahead and get as much done before I couldn’t go on. I realized that, between the pain and the excessive heat, getting started again would be nearly impossible.

Sometimes I don’t know exactly what to do to take care of myself, but I almost always know when not to do anything. I’m really good at that. It’s one reason my yard is so overgrown; I know when it’s a bad day to do any mowing. If I’d had any urgent outgoing mail today, I would have made my usual morning trek to the post office. I didn’t, so I didn’t.

This was not going to be a good day for working out anyway, what with it being 82°F at 7:00 am, and going up from there (103°F at 5:00 pm, according to my weather bug). Sometimes nature gives you such a broad hint that you can’t help seeing it. This kind of clarity can save a lot of grief. If only I’d listened to my body yesterday, before making things worse.

But things were not worse today, thanks to the wonderful care I take of myself, and also thanks to the healing power of time. Time will make things either better or worse on its own, and sometimes it’s best just to wait it out and see how it all shakes down. I’m not saying I can’t feel the places that hurt, only that they don’t hurt the way they did yesterday. I’m happy with this trend.