This is a discussion on how seemingly uncontrollable factors can affect our lives and well-being and what you can do to get back in control.

We can’t control our health or can we?

The one thing that we can’t control is our health. It is true that we can improve our health by changing our habits through exercise and improved eating habits. It is also true that we can live irresponsibly and in the process harm your health.

It is however very important to have checkups done on a regular basis to prevent medical conditions that can be prevented. The following story serves to highlight what I am saying:

Pro-actively managing our health

Recently I suddenly started experiencing spells of dizziness and passed out while going to the toilet. A visit to the doctor showed that I had urinary tract infection. My doctor told me that men don’t get infections unless there is another issue like an enlarged prostate. In my case this was the case.

Fortunately it was not a tumour, but it is a scary thing when this happens and the symptoms prevented me from cycling for a while as it is very dangerous to ride a bicycle if you can faint while doing so. As you all know cycling is a passion for me and also one of the reasons why my life has improved so dramatically, so you can imagine my frustration when I had to lay off for something like three weeks.

At the time the thoughts of having to stop cycling crossed my mind a couple of times and I dreaded that. My treatment involved taking pills that made me dizzy and lightheaded and I never felt quite in control as it affected my blood pressure and made it drop rapidly. After changing the time that I take the pills to the evening rather than the morning, and getting the same results I eventually decided not to continue using these pills and the bad news is that there is no other type of medication to address the condition. I cannot leave this as it is, because that would be insanity, so I need to find an alternative to address the issue.

So far I have done two things:

1. I have bought an eBike,
2. with a saddle that is better formed to protect harm to the prostate.

I am also going back to my doctor to discuss other alternatives.

The main thing is that I found a way to continue with my exercise and to deal with the frustration of not being able to deal with the condition. In the process I also found ways to continue living a healthy lifestyle and keeping my weight under control.

So although I couldn’t quite control what happened to my health, I could do something to deal with the effects and I may also be able to get a long term cure that doesn’t involve surgery.

What I have learnt from this is that every sport has its injuries and that there are ways in which you can prevent it. I am sure a different saddle may have helped but chances are that it is in any case a condition that I would have had to deal with at some stage. I also learnt that you need to deal with the condition when it happens if you want to maintain a positive spirit and lastly I decided to buy an expensive eBike despite the fear that my cycling days might be over, because that was a statement of faith, that I wasn’t going to lie down and that I believe in the future.

You will have to find your own way when this happens in your life, but at least learn from my experience and make sure you do what you can to prevent what you can control.

We can’t always control our environment and circumstances or can we?

When I recently moved to a small coastal town, I had dreams that I am going to do nothing but cycling and writing my blog.

Strangely, it somehow didn’t quite work out that way. Firstly, I missed my cycling buddies with whom I cycled on an almost daily basis where I lived before. Secondly the roads here are just not suitable for cycling as it is dangerous. Thirdly the distances that I could ride off-road is extremely limiting and lastly it is actually very flat here which means I am not pushing myself as much as I did.

Other realities that I ran into were things like the weather with wind and rain making my options for riding much more limiting.

I also had quite a bit of stress from the whole relocation experience as we sold everything that we possessed, gave away what we couldn’t sell in time and loaded our remaining possessions including our two dogs in a car with a trailer and came to a place that we have never seen before apart from some photos. Believe me that is a cause for stress. The worst part of it is that you don’t know that you experience stress. The only reason you eventually realise that something is wrong is when you start experiencing health related issues. In my case after experiencing very few gout attacks before I left our previous place of living, I suddenly had gout again all the time and the only reason I could think of was that the water or something in my diet must have changed. After weeks of searching, it was neither of these things and once the stress of adapting to our new environment normalised, my health condition also normalised. I now have people that I ride with here although the group is smaller and sometimes I have to travel a bit, but all in all we have settled in well.

What I have learnt from this is that one should never under-estimate the effect of life changes on your health and well-being and that you should be aware of these things before you tackle it so that you can better prepare yourself for the effects. Try and pro-actively put in place things that will get you back in a normal way of functioning as soon as you can as it is these things that will cause your stress and make your life difficult.

We can control our feelings or can’t we?

In all these things a positive outlook is very important. Finding ways to deal with your problems is of the utmost importance. In my case my faith in a living God who can change my circumstances has been my driving force. That believe has picked me up in times when fear wanted to overcome my thoughts and that believe has steered me towards new goals. I am now working on new objectives and hope to see myself having a positive effect on people’s lives for a long time to come.

Leave a comment to let us know what you think about this and what you do to deal with these things in your life.