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Every Little Thing by April Jeppson

My back has been hurting. Sometimes it’s one side; sometimes I can barely bend over to touch my knees. At first I thought, well I did turn 40 last fall. Maybe this is the decline of my body that everyone warned me about. Then my right knee was giving me trouble, almost like I pulled something. However, in order to pull something, you have to do something, and I, in fact, had done nothing.

There’s this term called “grounding” that has become popular these last few years. If you are stressed or anxious, you’re encouraged to remove your shoes and go outside and put your bare feet in soil. Doing this for 30 minutes a day has numerous benefits and helps a person center themselves. When I first heard about this practice I giggled, because I’m a self proclaimed hobbit. I prefer to be barefoot when at all possible. I was on trend before I even knew it was a trend. 

The problem with living your life barefoot, or even in flip flops is that eventually your body catches up. When I was 20 I could get four hours of sleep, eat chips for breakfast, wear non supportive shoes and sleep on a chair, and I would get through the next day. Now, if I were to do any one of those things, it’d take me two days to fully recover. 

So I’ve been making a conscious effort to wear supportive sneakers whenever I know that I’ll be on my feet a lot. Even though it’s summer and my little piggies crave the sun, I’ll hide them behind layers of cotton, rubber and whatever else tennis shoes are made of because it’s what is best for me. I was hoping that by improving my shoes, that my body would thank me and not hurt as much. Although it did fix my knee, my back is still not in a good way. 

Having worked in the salon for years, I know that I tend to stand crooked. Standing with my weight unevenly distributed, then being pregnant, really did a number on me. There was a time when I was visiting the chiropractor regularly, but that was years ago. I’ve decided that it is time to become acquainted with my friendly neighborhood chiropractor again. 

Wearing more supportive shoes and getting realigned is going to help so much. However, I’ve noticed that there’s still one more thing I need to take care of. 

My mattress. 

I’m a side sleeper and when I roll over onto my other side in the middle of the night, I wake up. Last night I couldn’t even smoothly roll over, I had to do a five-point turn. I rolled back and forth more times than I could count. At one point I looked at the clock thinking that it had to be getting close to morning, only to see that it was a little past 1 a.m.

I’m bummed that my body can’t handle what it used to. However, I am glad that it held out as long as it did. I’m also glad that I have a job and I can pay my bills and afford to make whatever adjustments necessary to alleviate some of this pain. So in classic April fashion, I’m trying to see the positive in all of this. I mean, it does give me a valid excuse to buy some new shoes, so that’s good. 

Albert Lean April Jeppson is a wife, mom, coach and encourager of dreams. Her column appears every Saturday.