A few months ago, I read on another blog about Carrie Underwood’s book Find Your Path: Honor Your Body, Fuel Your Soul, and Get Strong with the Fit52 Life. One of the aspects that immediately appealed to me in the book, are the journal prompts. Yes, duh, you know, I’m a sucker for journal prompts. However, Carrie Underwood’s journaling prompts are not just random one-liners, they’re deep questions. One of them is about early memories of physical activity. Today, I want to share my thoughts on this.
As a young child, I loved playing outside. I used to build sandcastles in the wooden sandpit my father had built, not even caring that the wood hadn’t been treated so it got moldy every once in a while. I remember telling you all the story of how my father used to call my Kindergarten friend, whose last name translates to Peat in English, “Kim Mud”.
When I got older, I loved learning to rollerskate. I remember joining an informal neighborhood rollerskating “club” led by the oldest of two girls who lived next door. She was my age and could rollerskate real good or so we all thought. I wasn’t nearly as good or even as good as my own younger sister, but who cared? I didn’t.
I got a large tricycle when I was about seven or eight because I couldn’t ride a bike due to my cerebral palsy. Not that I could safely ride a bike, given my visual impairment, but apparently the rehabilitation physician had no idea. I occasionally rode my tricycle, but preferred to walk around the neighborhood.
However, by age seven or eight, when I started to lose my vision, my physical activity level also started to decrease. I am pretty sure it’s more than just my vision though, but there’s no way to prove this as my parents stopped taking me to specialists around that age. I am considering asking my GP or the intellectual disability physician at the care facility for a referral back to rehabilitation medicine, because I want to learn to make the most use of the mobility I do have.
I did till my mid-teens love to sit on the swings. I’m not sure that counts, as it is a sedentary activity, but you do move your legs pushing yourself. I would go on the swings for hours on end. Now though, I get dizzy even going on the swings for five minutes at a time.
A thing I also did from toddlerhood until I moved out of my parental home at age nineteen, was this crawling-in-place movement while in bed. By the time I hit adolescence, my parents complained that I ruined the bed and made too much noise, but I continued to move in this way exactly until I moved to the independence training home. I could do this for hours on end too and I now realize it’s probably a form of autistic stimming.
Overall, I wasn’t physically active in most of the traditional ways. I wasn’t in sports as a child and P.E. was one of my least favorite classes. However, I can’t say I sat on my butt all the time. I didn’t even as an adolescent, though I probably was more sedentary then than I should have been.
How about you? Were you physically active as a child?
A Multitude of Musings 
I’ve never been physically active. As a child, I had a bike, but that’s it. I was terrible at all sports except tennis. I’m very inactive as an adult and my chronic pain issues make this difficult to overcome 😞
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I can completely understand your chronic pain makes getting physically active harder. It’s probably even more difficult when well-meaning friends and probably even professionals say you need to exert yourself in order to be less affected by your conditions. At least, that’s what I’m told time and time again when I talk of losing mobility.
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Thanks, you’ve got it right. Walk more so my back will hurt less, etc. But in the meantime it hurts more!
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I completely get you and it’s so hard to accept worsening pain, exactly because, well, it *may* get better in the end, but so what? Right now it freakin’ well hurts!
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I was an active child, I liked to rollerskate and go on my scooter and ride my best friends bike, I would run and play, and I was never afraid of running around even though I am blind. Xx
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That’s so cool that you weren’t afraid of running around despite being totally blind. I certainly was. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
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Sounds like I need to check it out
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It’s an awesome book! I believe it was in one of the faith-based linkies you participate in too that I saw the recommendation for this book (and the journaling prompts were mentioned in there too). I’m not sure who recommended it though.
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Nope, I wasn’t allowed to be physically active due to my Disease and my mom not thinking it was bad for me.
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Oh okay, that’s interesting. I don’t know what disease you suffer from, and I do know there are certain conditions in which participating in sports is not recommended (eg. certain congenital heart defects). However, do I understand it correctly that it was at least as much your Mom’s judgment as it was your doctor’s that caused you not to be allowed to be physically active?
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Actually, this is a very, rare disease and I am the eldest surviver with it. At the time, it was guesswork on everything. Now, I am older and attending the Gym 2-3 times a week. I developed Osteoporosis by not exercising.
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Oh yes, I get you about it being guesswork back then because your disease is so rare and you’re the eldest to survive so far. I am glad you are now able to exercise.
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I used to love playing outside as a child, I lived on a farm so there always lots going on and adventures to have. I was never really a sporty person unless you count riding horses.
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Thanks for sharing your experiences. Oh yes, riding horses definitely counts! I did adaptive horseback riding for a few years when living with my husband.
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