Taking the first step: preparing mentally to walk to work

Everyone knows now: exercise helps, NOT hinders fibro. The tricks are: 1. to get started despite the pain you are presently in (it's a big hurdle), 2. to endure the pain that follows the startup, 3. and to keep motivated enough to exercise continuously on a long-term basis. Finally, there's the mental preparation that precedes any significant change in behaviour and living patterns.

When I began working full time, after a two- year absence following diagnosis, I found it difficult to manage the pain in my body from fibromyalgia and the work requirements of sitting at a computer all day. To continue working, it became clear, I would have to exercise several times a week. The challenge I faced was the fatigue that came with this illness, combined with my mothering responsibilites, made it difficult to plan a trip to the gym in the evening. So, I set the goal of integrating exercise into my work day.

The system of integrated exercise that worked best for me was walking to work. This self-motivated pain management approach was integrated gradually into my life with very positive results. I could not have done it with the wonderful help of a walking buddy. My walking buddy was retired and she loved exercise, was a wonderful conversationalist, and was an all round delightful and intelligent person, who told wonderful stories. Julie also did not have fibro, which meant the conversation did not centre on the illness. This created a light, positive, and pain-distracting atmosphere.

Walking to work did not happen overnight. For several years I sat on the bus and looked out and wondered what it would be like to walk on the same route the bus took. Since the route went through a wide open field and industrial buildings, with no windbreak during minus forty degree winter days, it did not look appealing. It was only after I found a new bus route and saw a more visually appealing route, with wide pedestrian walkways and green vistas that I began to plan my gradual shift from bus riding to walking.