Somewhere between accidentally showing up to my nail appointment a full day early, taking multiple naps like a confused house cat, going out to dinner with my mother, and then apparently entering a 12-hour recovery coma,
I realized something important:
Recovery counts too.
No, I did not do my walks yesterday.
No, I did not do my walks today either.
And honestly? I think my body needed that.
Living in Arizona means the heat is no joke, and I’m starting to realize I may have overdone things a little earlier this week.
Between walking, stress, schedules, life, heat, movement, pinball league nights, stairs, errands, and trying to keep momentum going, I think my body finally hit the emergency “maintenance required” button.
So instead of forcing myself through exhaustion just to say I stayed perfectly consistent, I slept. A lot.
According to my Fitbit, I got nearly 11 hours of sleep overnight after already napping during the day. Normally I’d feel guilty about that, but honestly?
Sleep Receipts
My recovery stats looked pretty solid afterward, which tells me my body probably needed every bit of it.
That doesn’t mean I’m quitting.
It means I’m learning.
One of the hardest parts of wellness is understanding the difference between: “I need to push through,” and: “I need to recover so I can keep going long term.”
I still stretched.
I still moved around.
I still climbed my beloved league-night stairs that used to torture me for six straight years before I finally conquered them.
I’m still planning to ease back into movement with maybe a short dance workout and Thursday night pinball league.
And yes, I fully intend to get back to my walks because I genuinely love them now.
But this week reminded me that wellness isn’t built by pretending you’re a robot. It’s built by paying attention to your body before you completely burn yourself into the ground.
Sometimes movement counts.
Sometimes sleep counts.
Sometimes recovery counts.
And sometimes the most honest thing you can tell people is: “Yeah… I needed a couple recoup days.”
Still counts.
Read more of my walking series.
Steps for Sips at Weekly Reads
Starbucks Carrot Method – North Phoenix Walking Series