Inertia

Lulu would rather be a body in motion. 

A body at rest tends to stay at rest... Yeah. True, that.

I find myself thinking about Newton's laws of motion frequently these days. Not because I'm a physics and math type of person; but because my body really, really, wants to stay at rest right now.

I can't put the blame for my inertia totally on Sjogren's, even though I would really like to say that. I think that my age, my weight, and a prednisone taper are definitely contributing to my tendency to keep my butt at rest on my couch. And yes, autoimmune fatigue isn't helping things any, either.

It just seems to me that my body de-conditions itself so quickly. If I have a flare, or am recovering from a rituximab infusion, or recouping from an energy crash that requires a couple days of rest, then I have to really push myself to regain my previous abilities. Small amounts of regular exercise followed by a small amount of rest seems to be the best strategy for me.

So right now I'm pushing myself. It's bad enough that I have to cajole my muscles into moving, but my Bratty Inner Child Julia only makes matters worse because when she's not interested in experiencing "pain for gain", she can be beyond stubborn. So I have had to resort to talking sternly to myself hopefully with no one around to witness these strange conversations. They went kind of like this over the past few days:

Me: OK. I've had my twenty minute nap. Time to get up and do something.

BICJ: *opens one eye to look at the clock* No. We need another twenty minutes. Or an hour. Or...

Me: Girl. This is only going to get harder.

BICJ: Pfffft. *rolls over and pulls plushy zebra striped blankie over head*

I love my zebra blankie. 

Me: One foot. Just stick one foot on the floor, girl.

BICJ: If I do, what will we get?

Me: What will we get? We'll get UP and be vertical, silly.

BICJ: I'm not moving one inch unless there's a treat involved.

Me: Treats are one contributing factor to us having our big butt planted on this couch. No treats. 

BICJ: But... but... we have SJOGREN'S SYNDROME! 

Me: I know. 

BICJ: And...and...we just had our second infusion only a week ago!

Me: I know.

BICJ: And...and....WAH! WAH WAH WAH!

Me: Sigh. How about this? If we get up, and do one thing -- like cleaning up the dishes -- THEN we'll have a treat. 

BICJ: Better be a good one. *brightens* Hey. How about we drive over to.. 

Me: See? We're actually standing up. That wasn't so bad, now was it?

BICJ: So about that treat...

Me: Dishes first. Then we'll make a smoothie from organic frozen mangos, pineapple, and a little bit of milk. MMMM! 

It seems as though there should be some huge calorie expenditure from talking myself into doing something, don't you think? All of the REAL work takes place even before I put one foot on the ground.