Balance of desire and debility

As our bodies change it can become apparent that we no longer can do what we used to with the same thoughtless abandon This is especially true if you find yourself plagued by the maniacal “Arthur” arthritis

My own experience with rheumatologic debility started as my belief that I was just too hard on myself and injury prone. But it became evident as I started my new career in medicine that when you are so painful and stiff in your hands that typing or writing notes was near impossible and carrying a food item from the hospital cafeteria to your lunch meeting was a dreaded task due to the inflammation in your body, let alone making rounds for several hours, that something more was wrong.

Fast forward to today and I still struggle with not being able to just “do”. I hate that there are times I cannot train or that I know my aim will be terrible despite my best attempt at following the fundamentals of stance, grip, trigger control, follow through and breathing. All because I am flaring and my tendons in my arms/hands are on fire, my shoulder is too stiff to hold proper straight arm support grip or my knees and back won’t let me stand for more than a few minutes without pain. And because I am still relatively young and have little visible evidence of joint deterioration so far, I either have to explain my situation to those observing my poor performance or find a way to ignore my type ”A” need to be the best. You can guess which route I take, “educating” people on the difficulties of rheumatologic arthritic conditions.

Learning to find and abide by that fine line of doing enough, moving enough, without moving or doing too much. That is where dry fire and laser pistol training helps. Not only does it save ammunition cost but allows You to practice at your own pace at home and rest as needed between drills. Aside from working smarter and not harder choosing a firearm that is easier to manipulate is also important. And knowing that you can do more than you think when you plan things to accommodate your needs, including allowing yourself rest and downtime.