Last Updated on July 30, 2021
Recently, there have been some major changes in my life. Personally, I’ve undergone some transition and is currently moving to a new phrase and purpose in life. My future will involve more travelling, one month at a time and I’ve thought about the practicality of keeping of my gym membership and continuing my writing and research into health.
At the present, I am gradually turning away from the material world and opting for more simplistic living. That means that I can save a lot of I were to stop my gym membership.
Then, realization hit me that:
Practicality and Equipment
Even though I can construct and plan exercise program on my own now, I have intended to integrate strength training as an important component of my program. I’ve always preferred weight machines rather than free weights and gym has all the equipment’s. For the sake of my health, especially now that I am seeing early signs of osteoarthritis in my knee, the need to maintain my strength training regimen is even more necessary to ensure that I will not have to deal with immobility when I reach my 40s or at least, I can delay its onset. Of course, even though a healer friend had offered me hope that my condition can be easily averted, I’ve seen the benefits of exercise programs. It is important to take care of our cardio fitness, our flexibility and try to built up strength and energy as I have seen many sedentary people suffering health problems once they reach their late 30s or 40s.
Structure Workouts in Gyms Do Make a Difference
Due to travelling, I’ve not been in the gym for nearly 2 months. When I was away, I was fairly active, doing lots of physical activities. As such, I do not gain weight despite not visiting the gym. In fact, the literal absence of stress associated with my previous demanding career made me very relaxed, both physically and emotionally. There is no desire to overeat, and I am happy with whatever food my friends are eating.
However, after I came back, I went back to the gym again (as I’ve not frozen my membership for September, so I might as well go)- and I do my workouts. My legs still ache a little. When I did my cardio, I felt my legs waking up from the increased circulation. When I did weights, I could not lift the weights that I used to and I have to adjust to a slightly lighter load. Therefore, gym workouts does make the body fitter- unless if you are comparing yourself to a farmer or construction worker- then they are way fitter than us. However, as I have been physically active, by my second session in the gym, I almost regain back the same fitness that I’ve achieved 2 months ago. As such, the benefits of training could be easily maintained, so long as you keep to the recommended guidelines- min 10 to 20 minutes of moderate intensity for most days of the week.
Keeping my writings and research into alternative health
I’ve actually quit a successful and good paying job- initially I’ve planned to take 3 months off to focus on writings on health related topics and to explore the complimentary benefits of exercise in helping to ease chronic conditions. A year ago, I’ve never thought about this but somehow- I was too busy earning money. But somehow, this interest develop- call it a “calling” or “mission” or whatever- I saw it as something that I have to do.
It got to a point whereby my day job was getting too demanding with responsibilities and sometimes, I had to do things that went against my personal values- that made me feel very frustrated inside. When I got back, I was too mentally exhausted and I had to make use of the weekend just to recuperate my energy. As the result, I could not research, read or write as much as I would like to. One day, I knew I had to make a choice- the job or to let go of my research. In the end, I’ve made the decision to quit my job. My last day was 30 June 08. I’ve never regretted the decision till today. Then, 10 days later, the unexpected opportunity to travel came- I went and came back with even clearer perspective about the direction I want my life to take. So, there are lots of blessings in life so long as you have the sincerity to want to help others.
You would notice that I publish my works on this blog and I do not charge anyone viewing it. This is the way I would like it to be at the moment- and whatever I write, I do write sincerely from my heart. It may or may not help you to overcome your problems but at least, you can explore solutions from another perspective.
Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, during my travel, I’ve decided to settle and since there was no internet where I am going, I’ve considered to forget about my work and research. But then, I recalled the benefits that my knowledge had given me to help others- my friend was suffering from back ache because she travel so much and do so much of physical work- so with knowledge of muscle alignment, I used the cane to systematically massage to improve the circulation on her back and then beat into her meridian points. That provided her lots of relief and I have since heard her recommending the exercise to her friends. Then another friend of mine was suffering from what I suspected to be the early signs of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – and once I’ve identified that his shoulders were so stiff and inflexible, I’ve asked him to do more flexibility exercises and to utilize an exercise band to help improve his shoulder flexibility.
Then I was with another Singaporean lady who was diabetic- she was having pains in her legs (due to too much walking and shopping) and another friend suggested that she should go for Thai massage. The lady also tried to use cane to beat up the circulation in her legs (we managed to find cheaper versions of the cane being sold). Straight away I told her not to do cane exercise or go for any massage for a diabetic, this is dangerous as she may risk rupturing her blood vessels, which will lead to infection and gangrene- if it got worst, she would need to amputate (I never forget the sight of my maternal grandmother who had to amputate her legs due to diabetes because she refused to cut down her sugar intake). This Singapore lady is actually quite a stubborn cookie but because I was able to relate conditions and know stuff like hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, I was able to get her to at least listen to me.
So I realized that regardless where I go, I will always meet people who have one kind of chronic conditions or another. Even though when I travel, my focus is not on my research, but I’ve found that the little I know came in very handy in helping others. And that made me felt that what I am doing, is worth it.
