We all know that excercise is good for us. We do. And those of us with PD know
that for us excercise is more than good, it is essential. Yes, I know, we know it, but we don’t always act upon it.
I spent my first 30 odd years actively avoiding every kind of physical excercise, and quite successfully so. In hindsight I can see several reasons, the most important being the severe resistance my PD symptoms gave me. I mastered avoiding PE classes in school and never sat foot in a gym. But one day found me better medicated and more
motivated and a very unfamiliar feeling filled me… I actually enjoyed excercise… I was shocked!
Let’s face it, the proof is overwhelming, EXCERCISE IS GOOD FOR US… There are numerous scientific articles to that effect, the most recent probably being: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21750523. And excercise doesn’t have to be going to a crowded gym or running endless miles on a dusty road. For me, the most rewarding training is putting my sometimes failing body to good use around our country house, doing gardening or similar. I had not given it much thought though, until the other day, when I found myself hacking away at a pitiful excuse for a lawn that we were trying to turn into a patio. The plan was to take away a few inches and then fill it up
with gravel and top it off with a substantial number of reasonably flat large stones. Suddenly it dawned upon me that I was actually enjoying straining my body and found an unfamiliar pleasure in using tools designed centuries ago when gardening was more about surviving the winter than a pleasant pastime or
enjoyable hobby.
A few days later, I realised why I had enjoyed blistering my hands and working myself to a sweat. It has to do with fear, with love and fear. Because I will admit I fear PD. I fear what may come. I fear the unknown. But I have a choice. I can either let the fear paralyse me or I can use my fear to drive me to working against what I fear. And I feel love doing things that works against the things I fear. So from a former excercise-phobic and with every aching muscle I get from working out, I say:
In your face PD!