#11 | Physical Complaints

Rahul Rangnekar
Jul 28, 2017 · 2 min read

When things out of your control happen, it’s tough to accept it, but you must. And then if you really want change, you really want to regain control, you must do everything to get it back.

This post is motivated by my current physical state.

My back is sore every morning. It hurts to bend at my waist.

My right knee is very tender when walking down stairs or hills — both of which I must do in my daily walk to work.

My ankles and hips are randomly sore when making that walk, either due to too much stress from exercise in the past weeks, or not enough usage from sitting down at work.

My eyes are sore and my head is congested from staring at my laptop screen 11+ hours per day. 9 of those hours come from my daily job, and the other 2+ come from working on fraternity’s website, writing Yelp reviews, grading my students, and writing these daily posts.

I can’t remember the last time I could breathe perfectly from both nostrils. One is always stuffed. And it doesn’t seem to be allergies if it’s year-round.

I’ve been getting random fever chills when I get home from work. It’s not especially cold here in Berkeley, and I didn’t get these until this week. I don’t even know why this is happening.

I’m 20. Soon to be 21. This isn’t right. It’s so demotivating to see that the body and fitness I worked for throughout June and the first two weeks of July are leading to an exhausted body and mind, when fitness and exercise is the one thing I absolutely love to do and refuse to compromise (until recently) on.

But it’s something I have to accept. And then it’s something I have to improve. Whether it means taking weeks off from exercise (and forcing myself to really watch what I eat), getting a more thorough check-up by my doctor, doing my work and writing without a computer, or simply doing physical therapy and less strenuous exercises while I heal, it’s something I must do.

This will also be the last time I complain about my physical state here on Medium.

Today, I’m thankful for my health. No matter how bad it seems right now, I’ve lived my life so far relatively uninjured and pain-free. I’m lucky to have my internal system healthy and working fine. I’m lucky to have both arms and legs intact. I’m lucky that I even have these problems to complain about, because these problems have never been my everyday problems. My problems are not permanent. For many people, physical limitations are a real thing. But not for me, and I’m thankful for that.

Beyond Limits

Life’s perspective from a 21-year-old. A 100-day challenge to push myself beyond what I thought was possible. To be as inquisitive and uncomfortable as possible. To find and follow a life of peace, courage, determination, and gratitude.

Rahul Rangnekar

Written by

Software Developer && Writer, UC Berkeley Computer Science & Economics graduate

Beyond Limits

Life’s perspective from a 21-year-old. A 100-day challenge to push myself beyond what I thought was possible. To be as inquisitive and uncomfortable as possible. To find and follow a life of peace, courage, determination, and gratitude.

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