The Voice Issue 6, Autumn 2011 | Page 15

First step – take it one step at a time. Small steps back to recovery are always more effective than overreaching yourself. Going too far, too fast can just leave you feeling worse than before you started. Practical tip It doesn’t matter how grand or humble your exercise aspirations are – get someone to help you. Find someone to walk, ride or garden with. Making your routine a companionable activity will make it much pleasanter, and much easier to stick to. So whatever it is you’re doing – whether it’s walking to work or working in the garden, give yourself time and take it slowly at first. If you need to rest, then do. It’ll take time and effort to regain your fitness levels, but it’s time well spent. Set yourself some small targets if it helps. Reward yourself for meeting those targets and you’ll help keep the momentum going. Second step – eat yourself better. Getting your five portions of fruit and veg every day is a great way to kick-start your recovery. Add in some good starchy foods like potatoes, rice and good wholemeal bread and you’ll be well on your way. There’s always room for the occasional treat – particularly as a reward for meeting your exercise targets. Besides, a little a bit of what you fancy does you good. Third step – enjoy life. This is the most important step of all. Make your recovery as pleasurable as it can be. Make the most of your friends and family. Start picking up your old pastimes again. Practical tip As they say, energy makes energy. In other words, the more you exercise the more energised you’ll feel. Make the most of every sunny day – all that vitamin D is one of life’s natural mood lifters. You’ll probably start to feel yourself slipping back into your old routines in no time. And if not then maybe it’s time for some new routines. Why not try a local patient support group? They’re a great way to get-together and make some new friendships. Or take a leaf from some of our contributors and take up some new interests. It’s amazing how much poetry, art and storytelling we’ve seen from our readers over the last year or so. For many, an enforced change in their life has brought with it the opportunity to try all sorts of new things. Over to you... So wh ????????????%?????e??????????)???????????????????????????????????)????]??e????????????????????????????)?????????????????????L????????????????)???????????????????????????????????+?Z?()???????????Q!?Y=% ((??((0