Overachiever

 Average push-up capacity for a male of my age is 14-19 consecutively completed, which puts me into the elite level in some classifications. This maintained level of fitness is a good accomplishment in my eyes, but maybe not so much in my doctor’s eye’s. A bit of a conundrum I must say!

To say our world is suffering from terminal normality is an understatement.

The paragraph above ties into one of my latest doctor appointments. The doctor that I saw that day was not my assigned family doctor, he was an intern and didn’t know much of me other than what he may have read in my file prior to our short appointment. Our discussion was awkward to start out, so we started out with some small talk. The doctor mentioned he was new to this area and spoke on his appreciation for the mountains and forest and being outdoors, which lead me to mention a 20km run that Alana and I had been on the week previous to, within the Waterton National Park. We digressed and I started into my reasonings for making the appointment giving a little history and such. I mentioned that I use running as a tool to gauge my conditioning and progress. I concluded that I feel that something is just not right with my extreme fatigue and that it feels as though I run out of glucose or oxygen, I bonk quick and hard with nothing left in the tank. The intern looked at me with this slow head lifting really awkward facial expression and said “you sound like an over-achiever”. I was so discouraged and at a loss for words. I couldn’t believe what I just heard. I try to keep myself in good health to not be a burden on the health care system; something arises and a comment like that escapes a doctors mouth.

The phrases “terminal normality, average, mediocrity” are real and frustrating at times. The reality of the ordinary or average is that it has turned into a standard or a measuring tool. It really burns my butt to be treated like this, especially from a doctor. Because I was considered above average in my capabilities I was treated as though my concerns were not valid or bad enough to deserve attention.

Outside of that, my blood work that was completed prior to this visit, indicated Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (auto-immune disease) and there was not one referral, not one suggestion on how to work through this condition with diet; it was left in my court. Only God knows why I was treated this way. I must say it has made me bitter towards our health care system, our modern-day MD’s, not to mention the lack of holistic approach.

The positive to all of this is, that it has forced me to learn, it has forced me to take accountability for fixing me. I’m not fixed yet, but moving in the right direction.

March 23 (day 55)

Acts of Kindness recorded - 102,

Push-ups - 8225,

Sit-ups and or equivalents - 8920,

Kilometers (intentional extra mileage) - 385.5, 

Meditation/ inversion table  (min.) - 95, 

Stretching/ rolling (min.) - 222,

Sparring/ grappling (min.) - 73, 

# of forms re-familiarized - 7.0

Form reps - 125,

Form time (min.) - 515,

“Mastery” recite (min.) - 79,

Blogs - 10