It was not lost on me that the Saturday after the election I woke up with a sore left arm. Since then the PT sessions took only exactly 2 months. Doubt I did that it would be over so quickly.

Not able I was to lift weights then. At the end of this setback I realized things must change. Ordinarily I work out like a madwoman in training for the prizefight of her life. The PT assistants at the rehab center kept telling me to ease up when I first started the sessions whirling into each exercise too intensely. Wise up I did and took it slower and calmer.

My PT therapist cleared me to end my time there. The quandary is: how to recover mentally from a setback after you’ve physically healed. How to begin again your normal fitness routine.

You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. I took my fitness for granted. The time had come to rethink my approach not just to lifting but also to living life.

I would practice mindful exercise and pace myself. Say a prayer before I first lifted in the routine thanking my body for being a workhorse that enabled me to achieve my goals.

Today I choose to act in a slow and deliberate fashion. The violent and quick workouts are gone like the dinosaurs. They outlived their usefulness.

Not only is the bigger better more ethic of consumerism an economic trap the bigger better more extreme of fitness is quicksand.

I became fitter after I started working out in my “home gym” (OK–the clear unobstructed hardwood floor in my apartment).

My new approach is going from fast and furious to serene and lean. As I turn 60 soon. Being proactive in our older years will help us stay mentally and physically fit.

Getting infirm is not the guaranteed outcome in old age. It’s the result of poor eating, not enough sleep, and not being active.

Recovery from any injury or illness or any kind of setback at all takes time, patience, hard work, and determination.

My goal is to return to the floor and gradually increase the weight as I begin to lift again.

We each should have the radical grace to change what’s not working and chart a new course. As hard as it is to start all over from square one the alternative is no option: not getting back in the ring.

This time around I want to lift weights to lift my spirits not just get muscle.

Perhaps this blog can be a guidepost for everyone who needs a shot of confidence to embark on a new path after the old route was a dead-end.

Dancing in the rain is the only way to live.