On this Monday morning, I meandered down the hill to three corners to buy pork, chicken and ice cream. That’s because I want to put in 7500 steps very weekday and it’s less boring to walk down and get something than it is to wander back and forth on the back patio for 90 minutes.

 

The back patio is definitely easier on my knee.  But because the knee is getting better, it’s good to walk on uneven ground every day, too, to bolster and retain balance and core muscle strength.

 

I can balance unwaveringly on either leg

 

… for more than 30 seconds without using any form of support, and I want to be able to keep that up. It helps ensure the likelihood of fewer (hopefully zero!) falls as I get older.

 

I can walk in a straight line (balance beam-like), putting one foot directly in front of the other without wavering or feeling unbalanced, too.

 

And I can plank for a minute quite easily and get up off the floor without supporting myself (as long as my knee isn’t swollen and sore).  So, for a 75 year old, I’m in pretty good shape.  I just want to keep it that way!  That’s the goal!

 

Wednesday I Will Get My INR Checked Again

 

…in Grecia. I’ve been drinking two cups of coffee every morning recently and have read that doing so can alter INR levels, so I want to be sure I’m still in range.  Caffeine can elevate INR, which might be okay, but ideally I want it to stay where it is, or slightly lower. (3.06). (Ideal is 2.5, but anything between 2.0 and 3.0 is considered within range.)

 

The kidney pill I’m on shouldn’t affect my INR at all

 

…according to what I found on the Internet. (I didn’t figure the doc would give it to me if it did adversely affect INR, unless she told me so and that I should get it checked more often,but  wanted to research it to be sure.)

 

I Feel Like a Million Bucks

 

… 99.9 percent of the time. When I don’t, it usually means I’m dehydrating, so I drink more water.

 

My Baseline Numbers Are All Terrific:

 

… blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, etc.

 

Costa Rica is helping me be — and feel — healthier than I have in decades!  Not that I have ever felt particularly unhealthy, but I just didn’t know how much better I would feel after I started ingesting superior nutrition and exercising more.

 

The noticeable difference has been surprising!

 

Makes me want to keep it up!  Ya know???

 

Only occasionally do I splurge

 

…and bring home a small chocolate cake, a small bag of potato chips, or a pint of ice cream, and when I do, they last for days, not just moments.  Each little bit of chocolate richness, saltiness, and sweetness goes a long way, because I take time to savor the flavors now, instead of just wolfing them down mindlessly.

 

I don’t multitask anymore when I eat. I eat mindfully. That’s why a little can seem like plenty!

 

It’s a whole new lifestyle!

 

I have all day, every day, to do the things I choose to do without any artificial (self-induced) timeline (unless I’m catching a bus!). This retirement thing is working out for me splendidly!  I’m glad I lived long enough, and worked long enough, to be able to reach this stage in life and just take it easy!

 

Reducing my Social Media Hope-and-Doom-Scrolling Has Helped, Too!

 

The less time I spend on social media (except for writing this blog and truly interacting with close friends, one-0n-one), the better I feel, too.

 

Now that I’m registered to vote from here

 

… I don’t feel as compelled to make sure that other U.S. citizens hear (from me directly) what I believe they MUST hear so that they will feel COMPELLED to vote (or to register to vote and then to vote, if they never have before).  That’s a relief, as opposed to an abdication of my responsibility to motivate folks to vote!  I know I’m going to be doing my part (by voting!) to get the current regime deposed and sanity reinstated; I simply refuse (any more) to carry the burden of feeling like a failure if other citizens don’t feel the urgency or heed the call to save democracy.

 

What will happen, will happen. The lines are drawn.

 

So, I need to retire, as well, from my lifelong pursuit of showing U.S. citizens how and why empathy and fairness/equity MATTER within a so-called civil-ization.   To the degree that empathy and equity don’t prevail, a nation cannot even call itself a true civilization.

 

 

More aboriginal/Indigenous people “get” empathy and equity (civility) right than the U.S. does.  Many other countries get it more right. I’m living in one of them right now, so I have experienced how much better it is!

 

It’s time for brunch

 

It’s 10:09 and my tummy just informed me that it’s time for brunch. One piece of toast with chunky peanut butter on it and two cups of coffee at 6:30 for breakfast (just before my walk to three corners at 7) were not enough to carry me to noon, so I’m bailing now to get some additional nutrition into this incredible edifice that keeps me going.

 

More later, if I can think of anything!