How I learned to make recreation a part of my self-care routine

I was born with cerebral palsy, a disability that impacts my legs and back. My muscles are stiff and slightly spastic along with other minor issues. In layman’s terms, I walk differently and struggle with reduced muscular function. Nevertheless, recreation has been the foundation of my lifestyle and has been the main driver of my happiness and health since I can remember – it’s built into my DNA. In fact, having an active lifestyle is imperative to my physical condition. While this is true for everybody, my disability has given me a unique insight into the correlation between recreation and optimal muscular function (strength, flexibility, stamina) and overall health on an exaggerated scale. Consider this analogy; if you go two months without cutting your hair, it will get substantially longer over time, but you probably won’t notice any difference day to day. When you finally do cut your hair, you’re able to see the large change immediately.