Queen of the Klutzes

Little known fact about me (or huge major fact depending on how well you know me):

I am QUEEN OF THE KLUTZES.

Or, maybe I should say I have been Queen.

I am the gal who went white-water rafting, fell eating lunch and ended up on crutches for a week with a badly infected cut/sprained ankle.

I am the gal who walked her dog and broke her knuckle.

I am the gal who headed to the bathroom and fell on the patio, cracking nose, knees, hands and glasses.

I am the gal who a couple months ago missed the curb by Trader Joe's and fell sprawling across a lane of traffic. (fortunately in the shopping center and nobody coming.) The scrape on my knee is still healing.

I've noticed, however, that most of my accidents occur because of inattentiveness. When I'm paying no attention to my physical surroundings, either because I'm focused completely on a situation or more typically because I'm anxious or depressed, I end up hurting myself.

Yes, I have less than ideal balance. That doesn't help.

Yes, spraining the same ankle 5 times has screwed with my proprioception so my brain doesn't always sense where I am in space.

Those things complicate the issue, but now I believe they are not the cause. Not being aware physically where I am. Not paying attention to my physical surroundings.

And this inattention is complicated by our "multi-tasking" society. Seems when we are thinking about what we will be doing in 5 minutes or 2 hours instead of what we are doing right now, our muscles can become tense; our movements, because of this tension, become more jerky and awkward, less smooth and graceful.

I've started to take a physical inventory each day when I bathe. Are there more bruises on my arms and legs? More small cuts and scrapes? Do I remember "close calls"?If so, I'll take a little more time to study my breath, to slow things down a little. I'll get just a bit more sleep.

I'm working on this.

I also blog at: A Stitch In Time throughout the week and BlogHer on Mondays and Saturdays.