Every now and then, I get back pain. I typically lift things with my knees and not my back, but the usual issue comes in for me when I twist it the wrong way, whether it be lifting something or doing something else. I can usually feel a twinge and can predict that a few days later, I’ll be in some pain.
The pain has never been that debilitating for me. It’s just more of an annoyance. For a few days, it will hurt a bit to change positions when sleeping and I’ll be sore when I wake up but it will generally go away after I stretch out for a bit.
I went to the doctor some time ago when it was actually really bad on one occasion. He told me that I needed to do a series of exercises when this happened, and also said that I could reduce this by strengthening my back.
Cool.
So I took home the sheet of exercises, did them, and noted that it did take considerably less time to recover than in the past.
So far, so good.
Now, whenever I get the pain I do the exercises and they help.
That’s the short term lesson and I have that down pat.
But, if you look back at the doctor’s advice, I have completely skipped over the second part of his advice. To work on strengthening my back.
Really, isn’t that the most important part? Of course, but I admit, I skip it over because it’s harder, and it’s a longer time commitment.
How often do we do that with things in our financial world? Get in a little credit card debt. Oops. Go ahead and cut the budget for a couple of months and if you’re lucky, you could be out of it, but unless you go through the harder exercise of putting steps in to avoid having it happen again, it’s likely to happen again. And again. And again.
So, if you’re looking to improve something, whether it be a health issue, a finance issue, or something else, don’t just focus on the short term. Don’t just lose those five pounds and call it a day. Don’t just get rid of that credit card debt and forget the whole thing.
Once you’ve done that, begin the really hard part. Putting the measures in place that will keep those five pounds off and will keep you from getting in debt again. They’re harder. I’m not going to lie.
But it’s worth it.
I promise.
Now, off to do something about that back of mine…