While I was in NM, I made a point of pushing myself out of my comfort zone, going off of center, testing my balance, things like that. I have a fear of falling and so I tend to want to stay in positions where I feel grounded, and I feel like it’s time to combat that. So it’s somewhat ironic that after a week of testing my limits and not suffering any ill effects, I managed to injure myself doing something totally mundane.
As I was doing breakfasts and goodbyes on Saturday, I stumbled over my own foot while walking through the kitchen. When asked if I was OK I laughed it off and said I was just being a graceful dancer. My toe hurt a little but I thought I had just stubbed it. So I packed up my companions, drove them down to ABQ airport, then stopped for lunch. During lunch my foot started feeling uncomfortable, which caused some internal grumbling because I assumed that my “never uncomfortable” thong sandal was digging into my toe.
Eventually I got tired of this feeling and took off my shoe while driving (I do like to drive barefoot sometimes when I’m stuck in the car for 8 hours at a time!) and realized that the pain was not caused by my shoe, it was definitely deep in my foot and it was definitely the toe that I had rolled over when I tripped.
I don’t know if it’s sprained or broken, to be honest. I didn’t bother with a doctor because the last time I got this same kind of injury in the same kind of way, I was told that the treatment is the same for a sprain or a minor fracture… Stay off of it, keep it elevated, ice as needed. Last time it was my big toe so I couldn’t buddytape, but this time I can.
By the way, do you know it’s impossible to elevate your foot while driving? I’m just glad it was my left foot and that I drive an automatic, so my foot got to just be lazy.
Anyway, this sucks because I’m a week and a half behind on my on-line classes, and I’m supposed to do belly dance workshops for the next two weekends, and here I am limping around the house with a bum toe, unable to dance. I’m trying to do my homework with just my upper body, exploring concepts without truly dancing. I’m trying to sell my spot in the Ranya Renee workshops this weekend, because there’s no way I’m driving to Phoenix and staying overnight just to sit in the back and take notes. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be mended in time for the Artemis workshops next weekend (those at least are local so if I have to just sit and watch, at least I’m not driving 2 hours each way and paying for a hotel, you know?).
It’s funny, in the weeks leading up to the Mira retreat, I was really paranoid about something going wrong and making me miss out. What if I suddenly got appendicitis or needed my wisdom teeth out? Every near miss on the road had me thinking of how bad it would be if I got into a bad accident and broke my leg or ribs or something and couldn’t dance. And so while I’m glad that I got this injury at the END of the retreat, and that it’s minor and should heal quickly, it’s amusing that I imagined so much big calamity, only to be laid low by my own inability to just walk through a room.