Inch by inch, row by row...

There is a song that starts with these words…inch by inch, row by row, gonna watch my garden grow…. And yes, it is a song about gardening, planting seeds, keeping the garden weeded, and after a time, reaping the rewards of fresh vegetables or beautiful flowers. This song, Garden Song, written by David Mallett in 1975, has been recorded by multiple artists including Pete Seeger, John Denver, Arlo Guthrie and even the Muppets.

Recently I have felt that inch by inch is my new mantra. It is easy to become overwhelmed these days—so much news pouring down upon us, so many items on our to do lists, so many ideas we want to bring to reality and more. But the truth is we just can’t do it all. Or we can’t do it all right now.

I am not a very patient person. I would like everything to happen right now. But it won’t and it doesn’t.

So I am taking a new approach. The inch by inch approach.

After I tore my meniscus a year ago, I lost a lot of strength in my legs because the reality was that it hurt like…well, you know…to move. It actually even hurt not to move. But inch by inch, just as the orthopedist said, my meniscus healed and I no longer have any pain at all in that left knee. That is a true blessing. But it definitely took inch by inch patience to wait for the healing to happen.

An unfortunate side effect of that slow but excellent healing was that I stopped walking as I once did and some days it was a major accomplishment to have walked 300 steps in a day. Finally, the knee pain was gone but my good habit of walking was gone, too.

I thought my leg strength would just magically return but that was not the case. Then I began to have severe pain in my lower back. Nothing seemed to lessen that pain. I couldn’t walk very far, I couldn’t stand for more than five or so minutes. It was discouraging and painful. No over the counter meds seemed to make a dent in the pain.

So what to do? Neither I nor my doctor felt the answer was surgery or super strength medications—at least not at this point. Plus I know too many people who have followed that route only to have the pain return or never really go away. I felt that the loss of strength in my legs was exacerbating the back pain because I just wasnt’t moving enough. But how do you start moving more when it hurts to move?

The gift in this has been that I have no pain at all when I am sitting and no pain at all when I am laying down. I sit wonderfully. I sleep wonderfully. But as we all know sitting around is not healthy—in fact some say sitting is the new smoking. Apparently sitting, lack of movement, is one of the worst things we can do for our bodies, especially our aging bodies. Plus it also means that you can’t go places you would like to go if every step of walking is unbearably painful.

So what was the solution? First of all, I knew I had to commit to moving more. But how? Then I noticed a friend who I admire very much had started to use a type of rollator (yes, that is a walker on wheels) called a byAcre. It is a very different design than most rollators. It was designed and made in Denmark and it positions your body to walk very upright, not hunched over as do most types of walkers/rollators. (Here is their website: https://www.byacre.com)

As their marketing says: The soft, forward-facing handles promote a good, upright posture as you can draw the rollator close to your body, where it provides support at the core, thereby putting less strain on your back, neck and shoulders while walking.

I was amazed that my friend was actually back to hiking on trails using a byAcre. I trusted her integrity and honesty that this (not inexpensive) rollator might help me start walking more. I heard from someone else who said they used it for exercise and it had really helped her build up her endurance.

Inch by inch…

So I took a deep breath and made the purchase and it is making an enormous difference. Is all my back pain gone? Oh, goodness no. But I enjoy going for walks now and when I use the byAcre I am not in pain. I am still working—inch by inch, remember—to build up my endurance but it is happening. Slowly and steadily it is happening.

Do I hate the fact that I need a device to help me do this? Well, of course. My ego and pride don’t really want to think I need any help. I don’t want to be seen as an “old” person. But hey! I was already having to use a cane to safely move around and I certainly did not think the cane was improving my leg strength or helping me to enjoy walking. Plus I am 75 years old. I don’t think of myself as old but not being able to walk as much as I once did and still wanted too was making me not only feel old but making me feel angry. Worse than feeling old, I certainly did not want to be an angry old person.

The other lesson in this—maybe the more important lesson here—is that changing any of our habits is truly an inch by inch endeavor. I love instant results. I love to make up my mind about something and for it to happen immediately. I would love to have a magic wand for immediate satisfaction and accomplishment. But sometimes facing the difficult truth of the only way to go forward is to step out onto the path of inch by inch, row by row. That first little inch can be the most difficult one to take.

I write this blog inch by inch. I improve my diet inch by inch. I get rid of clutter inch by inch. I work on an art piece inch by inch. I finish reading a book inch by inch. I am moving away from being sedentary inch by inch. I am walking and walking comfortably inch by inch.

So maybe think about all that you feel is overwhelming to you right now and think if there might be an inch by inch way you can approach it. Because like the song says, it is indeed—

Pullin' weeds and pickin' stones

We are made of dreams and bones…

Inch by inch, row by row

Gonna make this garden grow

Gonna mulch it deep and low

Gonna make it fertile ground…