gardening/yard work/pacing

[Guest guest]

Tom,

I am an avid gardener and except for mowing the lawn, I do the rest.

Your post caught my attention - about working 3 hours and that you

know you will be in pain later.

This is what I do. I have a whole list of projects to do. I

prioritize them, and I pace myself. It is very easy for me to get

lost in my garden and loose all track of time. So that I do not cause

overwork weakness or pain in myself, I set a timer for 90 minutes at

a time. I work in the yard/garden, when the timer goes off, I quit

and get back to writing or a painting project, or eat or do an errand

in town, or even nap, etc. In other words, I do something entirely

different to break up the jobs. I may not get back to the garden

until the next day, or I may continue later in the same day.

Some of my yard work depends on the weather - if it has rained, good

time to pull weeds. It is has been overly dry, in the evenings it is

a good time for deep watering. So I sort of allow nature to be my

boss in a way. Spring's been here for 2 months so I'm back at it!

Not to worry, working at this type of pace still allows me to get

things done and keeps me, the flowers and plants satisfied.

Interesting I watched my father work this way and he didn't have CMT.

He just enjoyed his yard and the work and admiring the flowers,

beetles, and other creatures, like I do. He took his cigar-smoking

breaks about every 90 minutes (forbidden from smoking in the house!)

While he was cigarring, he was also deep watering and relaxing at the

same time. ROTFLOL, no, I am not smoking any cigars on my " pace

breaks " !

~ Gretchen