The Second Wave
I wish I could say it was smooth sailing after that first victory morning, but the body doesn’t give up its bad habits that easily. Around the second week, a different kind of discomfort set in. It wasn’t the sharp pain of injury, but a deep, dull ache in my ribcage and hips. I learned later that this is common. My ribcage, which had been collapsed and compressed for years due to poor posture and soft beds, was finally expanding. My intercostal muscles were stretching out.
It felt like I had done a thousand sit-ups. I was walking around the office rubbing my ribs, looking like I’d been in a fight. I almost caved and went back to the bed just to make the aching stop. But I noticed something else: my breathing was deeper. I could take full, lung-filling breaths without effort. The “tightness” in my chest that I associated with anxiety was gone. The floor was literally opening me up, cracking the shell of tension I had built around my heart and lungs.