Are you unwell much? Compare stats here?

Stormchaser123

55 Year Old Male : Self Employed.

Underlying issues: Anxiety and Depression, job loss, COPD, Anklosng Spondilitis. All under control except Anxiety and Loneliness and the grief of major career loss.


I ran some numbers - June 9th, 2023, to March 27th, 2024 and found I am unable to train

Summer Autumn Winter.

Total of 293 days, of which:

I spent 178 days engaging in training and feeling well.
I was off training for 115 days due to feeling unwell.

Based on this summary, I spent approximately 60.75% of the time well and 39.25% of the time unwell during the specified period.

Would you class that as acceptable if you were me? Are we entitled to be well more than that?

MargaretYakoda

Entitled?
Acceptable?

I don’t understand your question here.
Disability is what it is. It is, in my opinion, best to just deal directly with the circumstances we have.

Stormchaser123

Stoics say "we are not entitled to anything" - health, fitness, or a good day. I was using Stoic terminology. To add balance and humility. Incase there are people who were more unwell than me.

Should a human expect to feel well more than 39% of the time or is that wishful thinking?

"Acceptable" - I mean if you were 55 and Male and worked out a lot - would this be a normal amount of illness and rest periods and or if you were ill 39% of the time but did not regard yourself as disabled.

Regardless, part of illness is not accepting limitations hence part of that is to survey others and perhaps normal less unwell people of my age to gauge how normal or not it is to be sick 39% of the time whilst otherwise fit.

COGypsy

I'm not a fan of Stoicism, so I don't frame my wellness in terms of what I think I deserve or not. However, if 40%--or nearly half the time, you're so unwell you can't function in daily activities, that is absolutely something to be addressed by a professional (not a personal development guru).

Speaking for myself, I'm about to be 50 and have had some health-related issues, including long COVID; a retinal detachment which sidelined me basically from life in general for two months; and chronic mental health conditions. Even with that--I'd say that less than 20% of the time am I unwell and not able to participate in life. Conversely, I'd say that I also spend about 20% of the time at full on 100%. My life happens more in the middle, but days I'm truly unwell and not able to complete daily activities are pretty rare.

MargaretYakoda

Stormchaser123 wrote: »

Stoics say "we are not entitled to anything" - health, fitness, or a good day. I was using Stoic terminology. To add balance and humility. Incase there are people who were more unwell than me.

Should a human expect to feel well more than 39% of the time or is that wishful thinking?

"Acceptable" - I mean if you were 55 and Male and worked out a lot - would this be a normal amount of illness and rest periods and or if you were ill 39% of the time but did not regard yourself as disabled.

Regardless, part of illness is not accepting limitations hence part of that is to survey others and perhaps normal less unwell people of my age to gauge how normal or not it is to be sick 39% of the time whilst otherwise fit.

Well, I’m not a stoic.

As for limitations? It is definitely helpful not to just give up. But there is a limit to not accepting limitations.

We do get older (if we’re lucky)
Our bodies do eventually break down.

A typically healthy youth should probably feel well nearly 100% of the time.

However we are not all young. We are not all typical.

If I were to not accept the limitations of my balance disorder I would wind up on my (kitten) regularly. It’s actually dangerous for me to just take a walk on the beach.
I must accept that I won’t ever ride my unicycle again. It’s a relic of my youth now.

There are other ways to enjoy life.
But to do so I need to accept the very real limitations that my older and disabled body exists in this world.

As always ymmv

Corina1143

For the grief of major career loss, read Dave Thomas's book. His life always makes me feel better.
For loneliness, seek out your local busy body and tell them you're lonely, but be careful of what you ask for. Do you really want it?

Stormchaser123

OK thanks!

The Stoic teachings are a bit male I get it - but alongside CBT ACT and Yoga its up there to massively help with mental health. Its finding the right “delivery method”. In fact acceptance is one of the major major teachings.

Soz to hear about the various challenges. And ok yes I did think something was awry even with my list, this is because I train as hard as I can recover from and eat as best as I can to build muscle.

Copd is all but gone through cardio and muscle work despite one dr telling me its not possible to reverse it and it will get worse.

There is a likelihood that acute anxiety episodes and the weakened immune system plus CNS strain is a factor. But always best to check in with others.

Drs are quite brilliant at most things and useless at things like this - my lung specialist said - well your older!! But agreeably not 40% sick older.

I wanted not to post in the bodybuilding bit first as yes there might be some physical limitations others can’t comment on, so it was interesting to learn your story of middling out health wise.

And so as I hunt for this book and thank u for your kindness I shall wait for some more notes.

Stormchaser123

PS good lord that book!!!! What a wake up. No way am I reAding that - poor chap. I have ZERO PROBLEMS!!! I feel terrible now! Thanks for gentle lesson tho!!