Anyone who has been following my blog is probably wondering what on earth happened to my 31 day Writing Challenge. Well, I will tell you below. I have to admit, it did briefly enter my mind to delete the post, or even to edit it to a “10 day challenge”. I mean, 10 consecutive days of writing isn’t bad either right? I’ve decided to leave it as it is though. Things happen and plans fall apart. It’s just a normal part of life. I don’t imagine there is anyone on the planet who hasn’t experienced an unexpected spanner in the works on occasion.
Ouch!
So on Sunday 11th July I woke and immediately felt a twinge in my neck. At that point it was just a little stiff and not too sore. So I thought to myself I’d do some neck stretches and it’d be fine. Big mistake. I guess I must have subsequently pulled a muscle or something, for I suddenly felt this sharp pain and it didn’t go away.
It just so happened though, that I had a piano lesson booked that day. I attend lessons in a city about 150km away from where I live. It takes me about 1.5-2 hours each way, depending on whether I take the train or drive. Due to the surge of cases in Japan and my prefecture issuing a request not to leave the local area, I hadn’t been to one in almost three months. I was greatly looking forward to it. I assumed a bit of muscle strain probably wasn’t too serious. Therefore, I made the decision to take some ibuprofen and power through. In the afternoon, I also had plans to meet a couple of friends I hadn’t seen in quite a while. Cancelling seemed much too disappointing.
It never rains, but it pours
Moving slowly, trying not to do anything to further strain my neck, I sank gingerly into the seat of the bullet train. I will go on a little tangent here and take the opportunity to state just how much I love the fact that these trains are pretty much always exactly on time. You could probably set your watch by them. As expected, my train left exactly when it was supposed to. As it pulled out of the station, I reached into my bag to grab my phone… and… it wasn’t there.
A horrible sinking feeling descended over me. I needed my phone to contact my friends, for we hadn’t finalized a meeting place and time! I also needed it to contact my husband for him to come and pick me up at the bullet train station later! Of course my first reaction was near panic. I realised I didn’t actually know any phone numbers and had none written down. It was definitely a huge moment to realize just how much I relied on my cell phone!
There is always a solution
I forced myself to push down the panic and think logically. My first decision was; should I carry on to my piano lesson or should I turn back. Well, given the next stop was halfway to my destination, it seemed a little silly to turn back. My husband would be long gone. Besides I couldn’t contact my piano teacher to cancel, or my husband to tell him to wait for me or come back to get me. So, I decided to carry on and go to my lesson. It would be fine. Worse case scenario, I would get back and use a taxi. Yes, it would cost a little more than I intended to spend that day, but I would get home.
Then I remembered. One of my friends that I was supposed to be meeting that day was the person who had introduced me to my piano teacher!! That meant that my piano teacher had her contact information! I could ask her if it would be okay to call her and we could even arrange to still meet! My friend knew my husband’s contact information too, so she could message him and let him know which train I would be travelling home on. Perfect!!!
A day without a phone
Does the thought of being without your phone completely freak you out? Well, apparently they call this nomophobia. I don’t think I felt fear exactly, but it certainly felt weird. I rely on my phone to check the time, so I was grateful for the clocks at the station! Normally, I would also check the train times with it, but there was an easy solution to that too: a free paper timetable! (It’s a good job they still print them!) I couldn’t take any photos, or check in with my friends, but these weren’t really huge problems. The biggest issues would have been not being able to meet my friends or let my husband know what time I was coming home, but it all worked out thanks to our connections. I ended up having a great day.
My neck
Unfortunately, despite resting in bed completely the following two days, my neck pain didn’t improve. I survived my work week by taking the maximum dose of over-the-counter painkillers. Yesterday I decided enough was enough and finally took myself to the doctor. An x-ray revealed a chronic condition basically caused by bad posture. It’s something that I will have to consciously work on, given my two main passions are piano and writing! The though of not being able to do either is terrifying to me. The doctor suggested a course of injections that are supposed to help with inflammation and prescribed me some more painkillers.
To my relief, I woke up in less pain this morning. I’m not sure if it’s the effect of the injections or if my muscles are just naturally healing thanks to the passage of time. I’m thinking the injections are probably doing something though, given that yesterday, even the mere idea of sitting at my desk felt impossible, let alone writing anything!
Taking it easy
It’s extremely tempting to want to carry on with my 31 day writing challenge, but I think I have to play things by ear at this point and prioritize resting my neck. Besides, taking the time to heal properly and working on my posture will hopefully lead to much more than 31 days of writing. I want and intend to write for the rest of my life. Maybe this neck pain was my body’s way of telling me not to push myself so hard? I guess writing must be in balance with all aspects of my life and never become any kind of chore or duty. I think it’s definitely been a bit of a wake up call to take better care of my physical health.
