Weekend Fun

...well, sort of. Friday was Day 5 at the CLEAR Institute and we all get half days. Instead of going through three full circuits one and a half are done in the morning. Then they send you home with your cantilever, a Dyna Disc, and a personalized schedule for the weekend.

I had to do two more twenty minute sessions on Friday and four twenty minute sessions on Saturday and Sunday. This was my first experience of how the next 9-12 months will be: doing exercises 120 minutes a day, four times on the cantilever relatively spread apart. For this weekend it was easy. I would do a session when I woke up, then before lunch, in the afternoon, and after dinner. The whole time I would just watch the Olympics, it was really no big deal.

Despite the hour and a half mandated for these exercises, I still had time for some work, food, and fun. I did some of my summer reading, we went out for dinner and lunch, and I got time to play field hockey, soccer, and run. The exercise is a great relief after all of the heavy weights and constraints. Running out soreness and stiffness I'm able to feel like myself again.

Sports make up the majority of my life. Any given week during the school year I'll have at least 10 practices for three different teams. Sports are my social life, my team mates are my best friends. In dealing with my scoliosis it has always been essential to me not to compromise that. This year, however, that might have to change.

Four twenty minute sessions were doable on a summer weekend with no real responsibilities, but during the school year it will be much more difficult to make the time. I am going to have to make sacrifices, sleep being the first of them. I plan on waking up at 5 AM to do a session before school, I'll squeeze in another before practice, one after practice, and probably one at midnight after the massive junior year work load.

No doubt, it will be difficult, and there will be many times I'll wish I didn't have to, but this is my challenge and I know that I can do it. I'll be healthier, fitter, and a bigger person because of it. Scoliosis is my challenge, but this is my life.