ADHD · fitness · injury

Christine and the Contrary Brain

Christine Hennebury

I wonked out my shoulder and my arm two weeks ago.

Khalee and I were out for a walk. She was cruising along sniffing every blade of grass, as per usual, when she noticed a dog on the opposite side of the road and decided to take a look.

She changed direction so fast that I didn’t have time to adjust direction. I swear, if she had more momentum, my whole right arm – and possibly my shoulder- would have detached and been dragged behind her on the end of the leash.

Luckily, my arm stayed attached but all my muscles on that side are really unhappy with me.

I’ve been taking it pretty easy exercise-wise while I recover from the strain.

I’m doing some low key yoga, lots of stretching, and some mobility exercises. And, of course, I’m still walking Khalee every day.

(I hold the leash in my left hand though!)

A light-haired dog is walking away from the camera down the sidewalk on a sunny day. 
Image description: Khalee, my light-haired, medium-sized dog, is walking away from me on the sidewalk on a sunny fall day. Her leash is visible on the bottom left corner (it’s in my left hand!) and to her right is some grass and there are trees beyond that.

So, I’m doing ok and things are improving but I am feeling rather contrary about the whole thing.

I’m not contrary about the injury – although that part is no fun- I’m contrary because I am suddenly absolutely compelled to start rowing again and to really dig into some upper body strength training.

I’m not actually doing those things yet because I’m not foolish enough to risk hurting myself further but when I envision my day, I keep imaging myself rowing or doing some bicep curls and it seems like a great idea…until I remember.

Of course, I could be doing lower body strength training or using the exercise bike but my brain doesn’t find that intriguing at all.

When it comes to expanding my exercise plans right now, it wants upper body work or nothing.

See what I mean?

My brain is just being contrary.

Now that I have tuned into that fact, I’ll work around it and do some extra squats or lunges or whatnot but I had to become aware of the contrariness before I could do anything about it.

Published by Christine Hennebury

I'm a writer/storyteller/director/creativity & lifestory coach with a black belt in ITF Taekwon-do. I read voraciously and I write like my fingers are on fire. I'm the founder and Chair of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl and I'm a former president of the St. John's Storytelling Festival. I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie.

2 thoughts on “Christine and the Contrary Brain”

  1. I am so sorry to hear of your injury…but I have to admit that your story-telling made me laugh. I think it’s because I so easily recognize that contrary brain feeling. You’re not the only one to have a brain willing to show all sorts of enthusiasm for something that just isn’t going to happen right then. Oh, yes, it wants to do all those good things – just can’t right now.

    I recognize the dog episode, too. Several years back I was running with my border collie, 35 pounds/15 kilos, pulling me, a smallish person, but big enough to control her. Usually. We came to a corner & I thought I’d turn right where we usually turned left. She was a creature of tradition & headed left. My feet must have been off the ground at that instant, because before I knew it, I was on the ground, having landed on my elbow. Ouch! It didn’t break, just resulted in an interesting scar, but it definitely got in my way in my fitness campaign.

    Best wishes for a quick and complete recovery!

    1. Thank you for the good wishes and for letting me know I am not alone in brain-contrariness and in dog-related mishaps. I’m glad to have made you laugh!

      Sorry about the lateness of this reply – I didn’t see your comment until now.

      Wishing you ease!

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