I’m getting weaker. Or that’s the danger. At my age, it’s a mission to keep what you have and a fight to make gains.
And for tedious health reasons I won’t go into now, I can’t throw myself into gym sessions or even do a proper home weights workout regularly in the way I would like.
So it would be tempting to park this problem for when it would be easier. But we all know that this mythical easier time rarely arrives…
One thing the process of getting out of pain taught me is that low-key relentlessness pays off. For years I had pain that I assumed would never get better. I kept just a glimmer of hope–that was enough to keep working on my self-management even when the changes I could manage felt like drops in the ocean.
Those little inputs worked in the end, so now, for staying strong, I’m bringing the same attitude:
- Five minutes of weights is better than none.
- Ten press-ups (modified!) are better than no press-ups.
- Three times a week is better than zero.
- Drop the ball for three weeks? Pick it up again. And again. With zero self-recrimination.
The outcome with pain is always unknown. But the work–the real work of undoing old patterns, building new ones, changing how you move through your day, shifting how your nervous system behaves–is low-key and relentless: small inputs repeated with as much self-compassion as you can manage.
You can build meaningful change that can shift pain in less than ideal circumstances, just like I’m doing with strength.
I’d love it if you can be low key relentless in caring for yourself in 2026. What’s your plan is to do that?
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