Hand Signals
My morning exercise routine a few days ago consisted of biking outdoors with my 16 year old daughter at 6:30 in the morning. Temperatures of 20-30 degrees don’t normally bother me, but I noticed that as we biked into our 3rd mile my hands were much colder than normal-even with gloves. I fought the urge to quit for about a quarter of a mile but then told my daughter I was headed back to the house because of the pain in my hands. My pride was taking a beating.
Sitting down for a moment I began to have a cold sweat and felt faint… and then I understood everything. I had foregone dinner the previous evening and had been burning more calories than my body could provide while biking. My body was beginning to decrease the blood flow to my extremities to protect vital organs. Duh!
What I did take comfort in was that I recognized the need to change before I caused harm to myself. I could just see me falling off my bike and my daughter scraping me off the pavement. My gut was literally telling me what to do and I would have been foolish to fight it. Yes, I did get something to eat.
If we are willing to recognize them, there are most always indicators that change needs to happen. What ones do you need to pay attention to before you put yourself in a position where you might fall off course?
