The trouble with manual labor is that it requires someone who is fit enough to do it. If you are thinking of taking on a homestead, you will be able to put a lot more into it, and get a lot more out of it, if you are fully able bodied, and capable of keeping up with all of the chores. I never could admit to myself over the past decade or more that I was never fully capable. I am 51 years old and have been suffering severe joint pains since my teens. Admitting that to myself, and accepting it, has never been a part of who I am, because doing so would be accepting that I will never have as much out of life as I want, or that I will never be able to provide that my family needs.
Then comes this time last week. I decided to try out some tablets that are available over the counter at Sam’s Club for joint pain. To me, my pain has always just been ‘in my bones,’ and I have never been sure of what needed to be done to properly correct it. It has been worse the past decade or so, though I have experienced it almost all my life. So sure, one bottle of glucosamine, please.
On the first day, the joint pains were gone, but I still hurt. It was not hard to figure it out though, as I have been limping and walking a little hunched over for some time now, and I have been adapting to the pains. I was finally able to use my body normally. Also, I was tired the first day, but that’s to be expected when recovering from immense pain. New muscle movement, new posture and position, of course it would be exhausting. I kept going like that for two more days. Then the tensions started to ease off. I am now six days into it, and today I have been fully active, and able. I have finally confirmed the feeling I held for many years that other people were more capable in their daily lives simply because they were not going through what I have been going through. It was a revelation, and it was a relief beyond words!
Now all I can do is hope I can retain access to the tablets, and that they keep working. One thing’s for sure. They have given me a life I never expected to have.
The point of all this is to acknowledge a massive change in my life, and to address the hope I have that it will mean I am more capable than ever to accomplish my goals on our little farmette. It is also, of course, to advise that one not necessarily take on more than they can handle, and to be realistic of their ambitions, or to at least be ready to come up short when injury and pain get in the way. It’s all just part of it.