As I am approaching 200 pounds lost one of the many positive side effects I’ve found is the ability, and drive, to do stuff that needs doing. I know that sounds cryptic, but I’m talking about “honey do” jobs, running errands, and the like.
For the last few years, as my weight continued to climb and my knees continued to deteriorate, I did less and less. There were other very valid and monumental factors involved in this too, that I won’t cover in this post, but I stopped doing about everything. I stopped mowing the yard and we started paying someone to do it. If I HAD to run an errand, that single quick trip to one store was it for the day. Doing things around the house, like repairs, etc. were put off as long as possible. If it could be hired out, I would hire it out. Even normal “house work” like washing clothes etc., I usually pushed off to my wife. I’m not proud of it, and thankfully she was mostly understanding of it.
These days, things are a bit different.
This past weekend I got the mower out, after two years of being in storage. I went to two different stores and got a new battery, oil and filter. I changed all of those out and I’m waiting on an air and fuel filter to come and will change those out. In a week or two the mower will be ready and I will take over mowing duties again.
I also worked on a few house repairs, I gathered up and got rid of a few things around the house that needed to go in our fire pit (scrap wood, old documents, etc). Recently I built a very large rolling raised flower bed for my mom. I’ve built two or three things for my shop area. I’ve started taking care of things around the house if I see they need done, like washing and folding towels and the like.
My knees still hurt…A LOT. There are some replacements coming for those in the future I’m sure. But by the end of the weekend, I’m finding myself a bit worn out from all that I have done. And you know what? That makes me happy!